Beacon hill howard shore sharon isbin biography

Described by the Boston Globe's Michael Manning as a musician who plays "beyond virtuosity," guitarist Sharon Isbin has been a consistent challenge for critics, who struggle to find the right superlative that would do justice to her exquisite playing. A Renaissance woman of the guitar, Isbin performs worldwide at famous venues, commissions new works from distinguished American composers (more than any other guitarist) for her instruments, collaborates with a wide variety of musicians, and indefatigably searches for new music to play. Isbin was born on August 7, 1956, in Minneapolis. As a child, she wanted to be a scientist, like her father. However, she started guitar lessons at the age of nine (the family was living in Italy at that time) and found her vocation. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. and a Masters of Music. Her teachers included Andrés Segovia and harpsichordist Rosalyn Tureck. With Tureck, Isbin worked on the first performance edition, for guitar, of J. S. Bach's Lute Suites. This project eventually resulted in a critically acclaimed disc. In 1989, Isbin founded the guitar department at the Juilliard School of Music and became that institution's first professor of guitar. She has been extremely active in expanding the classical guitar repertoire, com