Sharon Isbin

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

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[edit] Biography

Sharon Isbin was born in Minneapolis and began her guitar studies at age nine. She was a student of Andrès Segovia and Oscar Ghiglia 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 Juilliard School

According to her website, Isbin is the winner of Guitar Player magazine's "Best Classical Guitarist" award and the Madrid Queen Sofia and Toronto Competitions, and was the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition. Although her publicity has stated for years that she won the Madrid Queen Sofia Competition, she actually placed second behind Spaniard, Diego Blanco. She also claims to have won the Munich Competition, however, the year she competed, no first prize was given. She did win the Toronto Competition in 1975 in a very controversial decision ahead of Manuel Barrueco.

Isbin has commissioned more concerti than any other guitarist, including music by John Corigliano, Joseph Schwantner, Lukas Foss, and Christopher Rouse. Other composers who have written for her are Joan Tower, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, Aaron Jay Kernis, John Duarte and Leo Brouwer.

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. It was the first classical guitar Grammy in 28 years. She won another in 2002 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 Heitor Villa-Lobos as well as Germany’s prestigious Echo Klassik Award for “Best Concert Recording.” 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.

Sharon Isbin is the founder of Juilliard’s guitar department. In 1989, she created the master of music degree, graduate diploma, and artist diploma. In 2006, the school began offering an undergraduate degree.

In 1995, Isbin came out as lesbian in Out. In 2004, she appeared as herself in an episode of The L-Word; in the storyline of the episode, she performed at The Planet and expressed an interest in Bette Porter after the latter's rebound.

Isbin has given a world premiere of composed by and performed with rock guitarist Steve Vai. On September 11, 2002, Ms. Isbin performed at Ground Zero. In 2006, she performed on the soundtrack of The Departed, a film by Martin Scorsese with music by Howard Shore.

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