Giants of the Guitar - The Performers V

Well, we have made it to Friday and the Weekend is upon us.  Hoo-Fucking-Ray!!!  It has been a fun week as we have enjoined our celebration of International Guitar Month with our series on the Giants of the Guitar.  This week our focus has been on The Performers with an all star line up starting with Andres Segovia. In the world of Classical Guitar, it always starts with Segovia.  Narciso Yepes, John Williams and Julian Bream were all either taught or influenced by Segovia and today's featured performer follows in the footsteps of that legacy as well.  

Our friend Wikipedia tells us this about...

... The First Lady of Classical Guitar, Sharon Isbin.  Isbin was born in Minneapolis, MN, the daughter of Katherine (Brudnoy) Isbin and Herbert S. Isbin, a nuclear scientist and professor at the University of Minnesota and author of Introductory Nuclear Reactor Theory (1963).  She began her guitar studies at age nine in Varese, Italy, where her father had been hired as a consultant.   She was a student of Aldo Minella, Jeffrey Van, Andrés Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, Alirio Díaz, and the noted keyboard artist and Bach scholar Rosalyn Tureck. Isbin collaborated with Dr. Tureck in preparing and recording landmark first performance editions of the Bach lute suites for guitar (published by G. Schirmer). 

Multi-Grammy Award winner Sharon Isbin is the author of the Classical Guitar Answer Book, and is director of the Guitar Department at the Aspen Music Festival[6] and the Guitar Department at The Juilliard School which she created in 1989. Isbin has been hailed by Boston as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time".  She is 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.  A one-hour documentary on her titled Sharon Isbin: Troubadour, produced by Susan Dangel, was presented by American Public Television for broadcast on nearly 200 public television stations throughout the US beginning in November 2014.

Isbin has appeared as soloist with over 170 orchestras, and has commissioned more concerti than any other guitarist, including concerti by John Corigliano, Tan Dun, Aaron Jay Kernis, Joseph Schwantner, Lukas Foss, Chris Brubeck and Christopher Rouse. Other composers who have written for her include Joan Tower, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, Howard Shore, John Duarte, Leo Brouwer, Bruce MacCombie, Steve Vai and Richard Danielpour.  Isbin's catalogue of over 25 recordings ranges from Baroque, Spanish/Latin and 20th century to crossover and jazz-fusion. In October 2014, Warner Classics released a 5-CD box set of her most popular albums on the label titled Sharon Isbin: 5 Classic Albums.  

I have an intimate encounter with Sharon recorded live at the inaugural Portland Performing Arts Festival in Portland, MN on June 29, 2012 posted down below.  Isbin presented a diverse program featuring Latin romances for guitar by Tarrega, Albeniz, Granados, and Barrios Mangore, as well as Andecy by Andrew York and the Joan Baez Suite written for her by John Duarte.  The companion piece I have chosen for my tumblr in Isbin's latest CD Sharon Isbin & Friends: Guitar Passions which became a #1 best seller on Amazon.com, and includes guests Steve Vai, Stanley Jordan, Nancy Wilson, Steve Morse, Romero Lubambo, Rosa Passos, Thiago de Mello, and Paul Winter.

Then with the Weekend bearing down on us like a freight train, it is time to indulge ourselves in a little imagination fascination and this week's edition of Friday's Fantasy Fuel should give you plenty of inspiration.  Then there is the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr who offers you a 'Tropical Tease'.  Thanks for the visit, tune in tomorrow to see which fabulous live performance I have picked out for the Giants of The Guitar Saturday Evening Concert.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!