Sharon Isbin
Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique and versatility, three-time Grammy Award winner Sharon Isbin has been hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time.” She has been a recipient of Guitar Player magazine’s Best Classical Guitarist award and the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition. Her catalogue ranges from Baroque, Spanish/Latin and 20th Century to crossover and jazz-fusion.
Sharon Isbin began her guitar studies at age nine in Italy, later studying and eventually collaborating with famed guitarists Andrés Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, and Rosalyn Tureck. She authored the Classical Guitar Answer Book and directs guitar departments at the Aspen Music Festival and The Juilliard School, which she created in 1989. She has given sold-out performances in many of the world’s finest halls, including New York’s Carnegie and Geffen Halls, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, London’s Barbican and Wigmore Halls, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
Ms. Isbin has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, A Prairie Home Companion, CBS Sunday Morning, Showtime’s The L Word, Scorsese’s Oscar-winning The Departed, at Ground Zero for the first internationally televised 9/11 memorial, the White House by invitation of President Obama, and as the only classical artist in the 2010 GRAMMY Awards. Profiled in periodicals from People to Elle, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, she has appeared on the cover of over 45 magazines.
Her latest world premieres include Affinity: Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra and a work by Richard Danielpour commissioned for her by Carnegie Hall for its 125th anniversary. Other recent highlights include tours with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, collaborations with Sting, tours with the Pacifica Quartet, performances with the Detroit, National and Montreal Symphonies, and sold-out recitals in Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and the Kennedy Center.