Eschewing the solo career path followed by most classical guitarists, and committing themselves to a team effort, Mark Eden and Christopher Stell have established themselves as England’s top guitar duo. In the decade since their graduation from London’s Royal Academy of Music (RAM), the Eden-Stell Guitar Duo has won several prestigious awards, released four critically hailed CDs, presented countless recitals, and performed with some of Europe’s top orchestras. Eden-Stell’s impressive technique, precision ensemble work, and thoughtful interpretations of music that ranges from Baroque to contemporary have elicited enthusiastic reviews and attracted a solid following.

“I don’t think we fully understood what was involved in playing well together until after we left the Academy,” says Mark Eden. “A lot of people say they’d like to play in a duo, but you have to be willing to stay with it and really work to develop your ensemble. When we began playing together, we practiced scales sitting back to back and tried hard to match our tones.”

“But it’s nearly impossible for two players to match in their technique,” says Christopher Stell. “We used to try to match everything but now we’re almost doing the opposite. We found that the more we stopped trying to be the same, the better the music became. Of course, ideas on phrasing, articulation, and concept of the music have to match, but the sounds can be different.”

That was one lesson among many Eden and Stell learned firsthand from the renowned Assad Brothers duo, who tutored Eden and Stell in monthly sessions during the mid-1990s. “As players, the Assads have totally different tones and approaches,” says Stell. “But the way their sounds, articulations, and everything else blend creates a wonderful effect.”

Eden and Stell launched their professional career in London after winning the Southeast Arts Competition. The top prize included a debut concert at Wigmore Hall—an startegic first step for musicians in London. The win also resulted in concert dates at music societies and festivals throughout southeast England. “It was a great kick start to our career,” says Eden. “We later played at the Park Lane Group, an important modern music festival held at London’s South Bank Centre.” That brought glowing reviews in both the Times and Telegraph, major newspapers that rarely cover classical guitar recitals.

The duo’s brilliant debut album, Pastourelle (1997, www.edenstell.com), revealed the range of music Eden-Stell are capable of, with Baroque transcriptions alongside contemporary works by Leo Brouwer, Sérgio Assad, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Stephen Dodgson. Their second CD, Eden-Stell Play Scarlatti, Rameau, Couperin (2002), focused entirely on transcriptions of Baroque keyboard music.

Eden and Stell are particularly adept interpreters of contemporary music and have premiered works written for them by Stephen Dodgson, Roland Dyens, Gerald Garcia, and Adam Gorb. Their affinity for Dodgson’s music resulted in the octogenarian composer writing Concertino, a work for two guitars and strings, for the duo’s all-Dodgson CD, Follow the Star (2003). “That recording was for a real niche audience,” says Eden. “We wanted to do an entire CD of Stephen’s music even though it might not have as much widespread appeal as other projects.” In a February 29 concert at RAM’s exquisite Duke’s Hall, Eden-Stell presented an all-Dodgson program to celebrate the composer’s 80th birthday, performing Concertino (with Orchestra Nova, George Vass conducting) and the duos “Riversong,” “Pastourelle,” and “Promenade.” A cameo appearance by John Williams playing Dodgson’s “Fantasy-Divisions” made for an electrifying night. Eden-Stell’s latest project is a CD of Brazilian music released in April. The title track is the premier recording of Sérgio Assad’s “Samba.” “That piece is one of the most challenging in this style,” says Stell. “It’s a knockout and shows Sérgio at his best. Lighter pieces by Radames Gnattali and Paulo Bellinati are balanced by Sérgio’s weighty transcriptions of Villa-Lobos piano works.”

With the new disc and an invitation to perform in Sydney, Australia, on the books, opportunities are multiplying for Eden-Stell. “You can’t lose your enthusiasm if you want to succeed at this,” says Eden. “We continue to get a buzz from doing new pieces together.” “It’s taken us ten years to reach this point,” says Stell. “We hope to be playing together ten years from now and things will be even better.”