THE MGA DUO
Although newly formed the MGA Duo performs music that spans the centuries, Stephen Miller and Nicholas Paluzzi once teacher and student respectively have synthesized their talents to form a guitar duo that draws on music from ancient days to the present. Both are classically trained yet have a passion for contemporary popular and jazz music that drives their vision to create an interactive improvisational unit based in solid yet imaginative arrangements of classical, jazz and pop compositions.
Although they have played together professionally as a duo for less that a year, Nicholas has worked with Stephen since 2004 in the Indiana University Guitar Ensemble which Stephen is the director as Professor of Guitar Studies at IU. They also performed as part of the MGA Quartet. The Duo recently performed at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Indiana University at South Bend dorms. This performance for the I.U. Chancellor, state and local dignitaries and the IU community lead to an opportunity to also represent I.U. Music at the Indiana State Fair in August.

Guitarist/Composer Stephen Miller is also Adjunct Professor of Guitar at The University of Notre Dame and founder of Miller Guitar Academy with his wife Joellen. He has performed extensively as a soloist and with ensembles including the South Bend Symphony. As a composer he draws from Classical, folk, popular and jazz idioms including a recent commission of a Kyrie for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Nicholas Paluzzi studied with Stephen Miller earning a Bachelor of Music in composition with a concentration in guitar at Indiana University. He is also an associate faculty at Miller Guitar Academy. His passion for music of all kinds and the guitar bring a unique focus and energy to the MGA Duo. Nicholas has performed as a soloist and many ensembles including also the South Bend Symphony. Nicholas has composed for a variety of ensembles and arranges popular songs for classical guitar by groups including King Crimson, Yes, Frank Zappa and The Beatles.