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   In her hands the guitar takes on the precision of a diamond, each note a clear, shining facet that catches, prism-like, a glint of the spectrum. New York Times Her instrument speaks with a thousand colors . . . positively hypnotic. Chicago Tribune |
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NEWS FLASHGRAMMY for CD with Joan Baez & Sharon Isbin received a 2010 GRAMMY AWARD for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra) She is the first guitarist in 43 years to receive a 2nd classical Grammy, and the only classical artist to perform in the 52nd Annual Awards. #1 Bestselling Classical CD at Amazon.com, iTunes, and BarnesandNoble.com BILLBOARD Top Classical Crossover Chart NPR’s All Things Considered LISTEN Sharon Isbin & Mark O’Connor Live in Concert WATCH VIDEO WQXR-FM 105.9 New York LISTEN KBAQ Radio, CD of the Week LISTEN Click here to read REVIEWS |
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Sharon Isbin Joan Baez Mark O’Connor Sony Classical 88697-45456-2 Info & Order  |
“Sharon’s exquisite playing allowed me to revisit and fall in love with these songs all over again.” Joan Baez |
NEWS FLASH
Sharon Isbin Performs at the White HousePresident Obama and the First Lady listen to Sharon Isbin perform at the White House Evening of Classical Music November 4, 2009.
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NEWS FLASH Grammy Winners Sharon Isbin & Mark O’Connor Live at Symphony Space Sharon & Mark gave New York premiere of his Strings & Threads Suite for violin & guitar, January 2009. Click here to watch a video from their performance. |
SCORSESE’S OSCAR WINNING
Winner Golden Globe and 200 ‘Best Picture’ Awards, Critics’ Choice Best Picture and Director, nomination ‘Best Composer’. She is featured on 5 tracks of Howard Shore’s GRAMMY-nominated score CD (New Line Records) and as the closing track of Rolling Stones/Van Morrison/Allman Bros./Beach Boys compilation (Warner). See the Discography Page.
for ‘Best Classical Album’ 2006 GLAAD Award Nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Artist’ Sharon Isbin &
17 weeks BILLBOARD Top Classical Chart. See the Discography Page. Their June 2004 performances in Avery Fisher Hall of Rodrigo’s Aranjuez were hailed as ‘Perfection’ NY Times, ‘Brilliant’ Toronto Star. Standing ovations and encore for the Philharmonic’s first guitar soloist in 26 years. See Isbin interview with NY Philharmonic. 2006 GLAAD Award Nomination Sharon received a 2006 GLAAD Media Award nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Artist’ for her CD with the New York Philharmonic. Also nominated in this category was Melissa Etheridge. NEWS FLASH Accolades for Joan Baez Suite See the latest reviews from March 2007: Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dallas Morning News 
NEWS FLASHSharon Isbin teaches and performs Savio’s Batucada and Lauro’s NEWS FLASH Sharon Isbin performs as the Featured Guest on Showtime Television’s The L Word April 3, 2005 broadcast
New CD: April 22, 2003 Sharon Isbin Plays Baroque Favorites for Guitar Concerti by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, Albinoni with Zurich Chamber Orchestra Howard Griffiths, conductor Includes four world premieres, and a transcription by Rosalyn Tureck created especially for this recording. Over 16 weeks on BILLBOARD’s Top 10 Classical Chart. See the Discography Page.
GRAMMY AWARD WINNER
ECHO KLASSIK AWARD WINNER In June 2002, Sharon Isbin won Germany’s prestigious ECHO KLASSIK AWARD in the category ‘Best Concert Recording’ for the Rouse/Tan Dun CD. She performed in the award ceremony broadcast on German television for 1 million viewers. Related features about this release on NPR’s Performance Today (May 14), 
NEWS FLASHSharon Isbin performed at Ground Zero for the reading of the names memorial and televised broadcast on September 11, 2002. See Photo Gallery with Hillary Clinton and Yo Yo Ma. 
On October 3, 2003, Sharon Isbin premiered the Joan Baez Suite written for her by John Duarte, a seven-movement solo guitar work featuring songs from Joan’s early folk singing career. (Photo: Together at Joan Baez’s NYC Town Hall concert in March 2002) 
Rock legend Steve Vai and Isbin premiere Vai’s “Blossom Suite” in Paris February 2005 during her weeklong series at the Theatre du Chatelet. Boston Globe Feature October 15, 2004 Fanfare Feature (cover story) May/June 2004 Wall Street Journal Feature July 10, 2003 New York Times Feature Sunday, July 22, 2001 KPBS/NPR Television Performance August 7, 2003, San Diego NPR’s Hear Sharon Isbin’s May 4 feature Associated Press Feature (International) May 30, 2001 
Schwann Jazz & Classical (cover story) August 2001 - PDF File
GRAMMY AWARD WINNER! 
Sharon Isbin received a 2001 Grammy Award for her CD Dreams of a
World (Teldec) for ‘Best Instrumental Soloist Performance without
orchestra’, trumping such classical heavy-weights as pianists Murray
Perahia and Evgeny Kissin. She is
the first classical guitarist in 28 years to
receive a Grammy. The announcement
was broadcast to nearly 2 billion television
viewers in 180 countries.Visit the Discography page to learn more. NEWS FLASH Chicago Tribune Interview May 30, 2000 Chicago Tribune Review June 5, 2000 Boston Globe Review February 13, 2001 Boston Globe Feature February 14, 1999 Musiciansfriend.com Interview August 22, 2001 NEWS FLASH GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION Sharon Isbin received a 1999 Grammy Award nomination for her CD Journey to the Amazon (Teldec). It is the first guitar recording ever to be nominated for ‘Best Classical Crossover Album’. Her recording of Aaron Kernis’ Double Concerto (Argo/Decca) is featured on an album which received a 2000 Grammy nomination for ‘Best Classical Contemporary Composition’. NEWS FLASH Scroll Down To See PHOTO GALLERY of Sharon Isbin with Aretha Franklin, Muhammad Ali, Bernie Williams, Steve Vai, Martina Navratilova, Al Jarreau, Dr. Ruth, Herb Ellis, Garrison Keillor, Joaquin Rodrigo And Others. 
NEWS FLASHSharon Isbin premiered ‘It’s uncommonly beautiful and here’s predicting it’s going to be performed and recorded a lot. The work is a salute to Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi... Its emotional impact is reminiscent of Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain... virtuoso performance by Sharon Isbin.’ ‘Wonderfully eclectic... From the opening swirl of flamenco-style gestures, through the poignant, ballad-like slow movement and the scintillating finale, the score kaleidescopically presents memorably expressive passages.’ Barrymore Scherer, NEWS FLASH SHARON ISBIN CELEBRATES THE GUITAR IN A 3-CONCERT SERIES AT NEW YORK’S 92nd St Y 1998-1999 Season Sharon Isbin was Artistic Director for a series of New York concerts celebrating the versatility of the classical guitar at the 92nd St Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall during the 1998-99 concert season: September 26, l998 - JOURNEY TO THE AMAZON Sharon Isbin was joined by Brazilian percussionist/composer Thiago de Mello and his band Amazon in music from her 1999 Grammy Award nominated CD Journey to the Amazon. February 9, l999 - WAYFARING STRANGER Ms. Isbin was joined by Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer in French and American folk songs, and Schubert lieder (music from their Erato CD, Wayfaring Stranger). April 17, l999 - BAROQUE The International Sejong Soloists string ensemble joined Ms. Isbin in a program that included concerti by J.S. Bach and Vivaldi arranged for guitar. PHOTO GALLERY Sharon Isbin has collaborated with many personalities of our time, from Muhammad Ali to Melissa Etheridge to Antonio Carlos Jobim. Below are some recent photos:  President Obama and the First Lady listen to Sharon Isbin’s performance in the East Room at the White House Evening of Classical Music on Sharon celebrates with President Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House following her performance.  Sharon & Riccardo Muti at dinner following her performance at the Ravenna Festival, Italy, July 14, 2009.  Sharon & Martina Navratilova after filming interview for upcoming Isbin television documentary. Aspen Music Festival, August 2008.  On September 11, 2002, Sharon Isbin was honored to perform in New York City at Ground Zero for the internationally televised memorial accompanying the reading of the names of those who perished. Over 24,000 family members and survivors attended. She is shown here with Senator Hillary Clinton, who read at the event, and with fellow performer  Sharon joins Muhammad Ali and his wife Lonnie at the 20th Anniversary Gala dinner to benefit Birch Services on October 10, l996 at the Pierre Hotel in New York. In the event hosted by Ed Bradley, Sharon was the guest performer and Ali was honored for his support of the Birch Family Camp for children with AIDS. The evening raised $600,000 for this non-profit organization. (Photo: Stuart O’Shields)  Sharon is the featured guest performing (and acting!) on Showtime Television’s The L Word, Season 2, episode 7. She is shown here with Jennifer Beals and Pam Grier with whom she shares a scene at The Planet. 
Sharon studied for 10 years with the great Bach scholar and keyboard
artist, Dr. Rosalyn Tureck. Together they edited the
Complete Bach Lute Suites
which Sharon recorded for Virgin Classics/EMI;
 Patti LaBelle paid tribute to Sharon at the Philadelphia Recording Academy Honors after hearing her performance that evening for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s award. April 10, 2006.  Greeting friend David Hyde Pierce backstage at Curtains, March 29, 2007.  New York Yankee star Bernie Williams congratulates Sharon after her concert at the Performing Arts Center in Tampa, Florida (March 14, l998). Rumor has it that Bernie, who is also an avid guitarist, may soon join up with Sharon for a duet.  Aretha Franklin and Sharon visit after their performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on August 11, l996 in the ‘Great Hall’ of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Sharon played Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, and later joined Aretha for an encore. (Photo: Peter Bischoff)  Edmund White, Sharon Isbin, Ned Rorem, and Edward Albee (bottom row) celebrate filmmakers John Kolomvakis and Jim Dowell’s (top row) documentary  Sharon is elated to play one of only two Stradivarius guitars that exist in the world. (Photo:  Sharon teams up with Al Jarreau, and Brazilian pop singers Ivan Lins, Leila Pinheiro and Dori Caymmi in their October 31, l997 concert tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim in New York’s Carnegie Hall. (Photo: Steve Sherman)  Sharon, playing on her  Rock legend and Grammy winner Steve Vai performs duets with Sharon at The Bottom Line, New York City, January 17, 2002.  Grammy winner Steve Lukather, guitar hero from the rock band Toto, performed duets with Sharon in a workshop they gave for 'Grammy in the Schools' in Los Angeles, February 26, 2002.  Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Sharon get acquainted at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles where both were nominees, February 27, 2002.  Sharon and Thiago de Mello get tips from a tribal chief in the Amazon rain forest in the days following their August 30, 2001 performance in the legendary Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil where Enrico Caruso once sang and Margot Fonteyn danced. Sharon also shares an intimate moment with a friendly woolly monkey.  Garrison Keillor chats with Sharon after their November 8, l997 ‘Prairie Home Companion’ live show and national radio broadcast at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sharon, who has been a frequent guest on the show, was joined by Thiago de Mello who performed selections with her from their Journey to the Amazon CD. (Garrison once revealed that he sometimes writes his monologues while listening to her music.)  Joaquin Rodrigo and Sharon share a reunion at his home in Madrid on May 23, l998. Their long friendship dates from l979 when Rodrigo first invited her to his home after learning that she was a winner of the Queen Sofia Competition—she then played his Concierto de Aranjuez for him and his wife Victoria Kamhi. Her l991 recording of the work, which he praised as ‘magnificent’, remains one of his favorites.  John Corigliano and Sharon share smiles with a friendly land iguana in the Galapagos Islands (January 1994). After Sharon premiered John’s guitar concerto, Troubadours, they celebrated by vacationing for two weeks on the Islands and trekking in the Amazon rain forest.  After a performance with Melissa Etheridge of ‘You Can Sleep While I Drive’, Sharon joins friend Martina Navratilova in her Aspen home for a toast to the New Year, January 1, 1996.  Singer Holly Near surprises Sharon with a visit and reunion at her September 27, 1999 recital at the Juilliard Theater. Sharon’s concert celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Juilliard School Guitar Department which she created in 1989.  Sharon with comedienne extraordinaire Kate Clinton and writer/activist Urvashi Vaid, January 4, 2006, NYC.  Suiting up to snorkel in St. John, Virgin Islands, January 2007. |
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BOOKINGS: Columbia Artists PRESS: Jay K. Hoffman |
Updated 1/31/2010 by Stephen Linhart Copyright Isbin, Linhart Photos: Stuart O’Shields |
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| Homepage
| Biography
| Discography
| Magazines & Interviews
| Itinerary
| | Press Releases | Repertoire | Books & Editions | Travel Guitar | CD Notes | |