Sharon Isbin

Sharon Isbin (born August 7, 1956 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota) is an American guitarist, recording artist, concertizer, and the founder of the Guitar Department at the Juilliard School.

Biography

Sharon Isbin was born in Minneapolis and began her guitar studies at age nine. She was a student of Aldo Minella, Andrés Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, Alirio Díaz and Rosalyn Tureck. She received a B.A. cum laude from Yale University and a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music. She is the author of the Classical Guitar Answer Book, and is Director of guitar departments at the Aspen Music Festival and The Juilliard School.

Grammy winner Sharon Isbin has been hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time” (Boston Magazine.) She also the winner of Guitar Player magazine’s “Best Classical Guitarist” award, First Prize winner of the Toronto Guitar ’75 competition, a winner of the Madrid Queen Sofia, and the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition.

Isbin has appeared as soloist with over 160 orchestras, and has commissioned more concerti than any other guitarist, including concerti by John Corigliano, Tan Dun, Aaron Jay Kernis, Joseph Schwantner, Lukas Foss, and Christopher Rouse. Other composers who have written for her include Joan Tower, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, Howard Shore, John Duarte, Leo Brouwer and Steve Vai.

Isbin's catalogue of over 25 recordings ranges from Baroque, Spanish/Latin and 20th century to crossover and jazz-fusion. In November 1995, her CD American Landscapes was launched in the space shuttle Atlantis and presented to Russian cosmonauts during a rendezvous with Mir. She won a Grammy Award in 2001 for her Dreams of a World: Folk-Inspired Music for Guitar for “Best Instrumental Soloist,” becoming the first classical guitarist to win a Grammy in 28 years. She won another in 2002 and as well Germany's prestigious Echo Klassik Award for “Best Concert Recording” for her world premiere recording of concerti written for her by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun. She also won a 2005 Latin Grammy nomination for “Best Classical Album” and a 2006 GLAAD Media Award nomination for “Outstanding Music Artist” for her disc with the New York Philharmonic of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and concerti by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce and Brazilian Hector Villa-Lobos. This is the Philharmonic’s first-ever recording with guitar, and follows their Avery Fisher Hall performances in June 2004 with Sharon Isbin as their first guitar soloist in 26 years. Her Journey to the Amazon with Brazilian percussionist Thiago de Mello and saxophonist Paul Winter, received a 1999 Grammy nomination for “Best Classical Crossover Album.” Her CD of Aaron Jay Kernis’ ‘’Double Concerto’’ with violinist Cho-Liang Lin and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra received a 2000 Grammy nomination.

Isbin is the founder of Juilliard’s guitar department. In 1989, she created the master of music degree, graduate diploma and artist diploma, and in 2007, added the bachelor of music degree and undergraduate diploma. In an interview she has stated that she always plays scales in a three-part regimen with a metronome.^[1]

Isbin gave the world premiere of Blossom Suite, composed by and performed with rock guitarist Steve Vai during a week of concerts she performed at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris in 2005. Her earliest crossover collaborations began with Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida and jazz guitarist Larry Coryell with whom she recorded and performed for five years.

On September 11, 2002, Ms. Isbin's performance for the memorial tribute at Ground Zero was televised live throughout the world. Sharon Isbin is featured on the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese's The Departed which won four Academy Awards in 2007, including Best Picture, and on the Grammy nominated score soundtrack CD composed by Howard Shore.

Career

2009

In March, Isbin played Joaquín Rodrigo's Fantasia para un gentilhombre (Fantasy for a gentleman) for guitar and orchestra with the Stockton Symphony.^[2]

Discography

References

External links

• Sharon Isbin official website
• Multiple interviews with Sharon Isbin
• Discography for Sharon Isbin recordings
• Interview with Sharon Isbin
• Some photos of LP covers (Oviatt Library Digital Collections)