Sharon Isbin

Performing and recording

In 2005, Isbin performed the world premiere with Steve Vai of his Blossom Suite composed for her at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Her initial crossover collaborations included Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida and jazz guitarist Larry Coryell. In 2014, she performed a 20-city Guitar Passions tour with jazz musicians Stanley Jordan and Romero Lubambo.

In 2015, she performed with Josh Groban on the PBS Billy Joel: Gershwin Prize concert,^[8] and was featured on the Tavis Smiley PBS television series in February 2015.^[9]

On November 5, 2015, the David Lynch Foundation organized a benefit concert at New York City's Carnegie Hall named "Change Begins Within," to promote transcendental meditation for stress control. Sharon Isbin participated alongside Katy Perry, Sting, Jerry Seinfeld, Angelique Kidjo, and Jim James.^[10]

Teaching and other work

In 1989, Isbin established the Master of Music degree, Graduate Diploma, and Artist Diploma programs for classical guitar at the Juilliard School, and later added Bachelor of Music and DMA degree programs to the department. She is the founding director and faculty of the Juilliard School's guitar department.^[11]

Isbin is the author of the Classical Guitar Answer Book and serves as the director of the Guitar Department at the Aspen Music Festival which she created in 1993.^[12]

Awards and nominations

Awards and Recognitions

• Won first prize at the Toronto Guitar Competition (1975)
• Won the Munich ARD International Music Competition (1976)
• A winner of the Madrid Queen Sofia International Competition (1979)
• Concert Artists Guild Virtuoso Award (2013)
• Germany's Echo Klassik Award (2002)
• Musical America Worldwide Instrumentalist of the Year (2020)
• JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition Lifetime Achievement Award (2020)^[13]
• Guitar Foundation of America HALL OF FAME and Artistic Achievement Award (2023) ^[14]

In 2020, Isbin became the first guitarist named Musical America's Instrumentalist of the Year.^[15] She was also the first guitarist to win the Munich ARD International Competition. She received a 1999 Grammy nomination for "Best Classical Crossover Album" for her recording Journey to the Amazon. She played on Aaron Jay Kernis' Double Concerto with violinist Cho-Liang Lin and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. This album received a Grammy nomination in 2000 for "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" for Kernis' Air for Violin.

Isbin won a Grammy in 2001 for her album Dreams of a World: Folk-Inspired Music for Guitar (Warner Classics), becoming the first classical guitarist to win a Grammy in 28 years. On September 11, 2002, Isbin performed for the memorial tribute at Ground Zero, which was televised live throughout the world on international networks. Her recording of world premiere concertos written for her by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun won a Grammy in 2002. She received a 2005 Latin Grammy nomination for "Best Classical Album" and a 2006 GLAAD Media Award nomination for "Outstanding Music Artist" for her recording of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with the New York Philharmonic. The recording also featured concertos by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce and Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos. Isbin was the first guitar soloist to perform with the New York Philharmonic in 26 years; this was the orchestra's first-ever recording with the guitar.

In November 2009, Isbin performed at the White House by invitation of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.^[16]

In 2010, Isbin won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist for her CD, Journey to the New World (Sony) in which Joan Baez and Mark O'Connor performed with her as guests. The album spent 63 consecutive weeks on Billboard charts and ranked as the number one bestselling classical CD on Amazon and iTunes during that time.

The PBS American Public Television documentary Sharon Isbin: Troubadour won the 2015 ASCAP Television Broadcast Award and has aired internationally and on more than 200 PBS stations across the U.S. ^[17]

Grammy

Source:^[18]

• 1999: Grammy nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album, Journey to the Amazon
• 2000: Grammy nomination, Kernis: Double Concerto for Violin and Guitar with Cho-Liang Lin and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
• 2001: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist, Dreams of a World
• 2002: Grammy Award for Rouse: Concert de Gaudi
• 2005: Latin Grammy nomination for Best Classical Album, Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Villa-Lobos: Concerto for guitar; Ponce: Concierto del Sur with the New York Philharmonic
• 2010: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist, Journey to the New World

Other awards

• Toronto Guitar competition, first prize, 1975
• Winner Munich ARD International Music Competition, 1976
• Madrid Queen Sofia International Competition, 1979
• Echo Klassik Award, Winner Best Concert Recording, 2002
• Best Classical Guitarist, Guitar Player magazine
• Concert Artists Guild Virtuoso Award, 2013
• ASCAP Television Broadcast Award, 2015
• Little Orchestra Society's Artistic Excellence Award, 2019
• Musical America 2020 Instrumentalist of the Year Award
• Guitar Foundation of America HALL OF FAME and Artistic Achievement Award, 2023