Multiple Grammy Award winner Sharon Isbin, who has been acclaimed for expanding the guitar repertoire with some of the finest new works of our time, has two new world premiere recordings of works written for her to be released on May 22, 2020 on ZOHO.
Affinity (ZM 202005) featuring multi-faceted and virtuosic works by leading composers from three continents, and Strings for Peace (ZM 202004), an album steeped in the tradition of ragas and talas of North Indian classical music with sarod master Amjad Ali Khan and his virtuoso sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, are both groundbreaking releases that vastly enrich major new repertoire for guitar.
On the historic ZOHO release, Affinity, legendary guitarist
Sharon Isbin performs the jazz and world music-influenced title work, Affinity: Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra by Chris Brubeck, with the Maryland Symphony/Elizabeth Schulze, marking Strathmore Concert Hall's first commercial release. Her live performances of the work have been praised in reviews for "Isbin delivering rapid-fire virtuosity and a tender jazz-based tribute to Chris' father Dave Brubeck." From the Africa-influenced El Decameron Negro by iconic Cuban guitarist/composer Leo Brouwer, through the Chinese and Spanish-inspired Seven Desires for Guitar by Tan Dun, to Richard Danielpour's sensual song cycle Of Love and Longing (with multiple Grammy winner Isabel Leonard),
Sharon Isbin gives her inimitable imprint to, and vastly enriches major new repertoire for guitar. The four world premieres also include a two-guitar arrangement for her by
Colin Davin of Antonio Lauro's Waltz #3 Natalia.
Strings for Peace, features four compositions by legendary sarod master
Amjad Ali Khan based on four popular ragas specifically written and arranged for Sharon Isbin: By the Moon - Raga Behag, Love
Avalanche - Raga Mishra Bhairav, Romancing Earth - Raga Pilu and Sacred Evening - Raga Yaman. The four artists are accompanied on the tabla by Amit Kavthekar, a disciple of two giants of Indian drumming, Alla Rakha and his son Zakir Hussain. Isbin calls the music
Amjad Ali Khan composed for guitar and sarod "sheer genius," adding, "in an amazing way, it interweaves our varied musical, spiritual and artistic traditions with mystical beauty, creativity, grace and great emotion." The Times of India, in reviewing their recent tour, raved how the musicians "crossed barriers of language, culture, uniting people through music and melody ... the power of their performance rocked the hall!" This sense of unity and oneness is all the more poignant given that Delhi is experiencing its worst sectarian mob violence in decades. They will tour across the US in 20/21 beginning in Tanglewood and Caramoor festivals this July.
Hailed as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time," multiple Grammy Award winner
Sharon Isbin was named the 2020 Musical America
Worldwide Instrumentalist of the Year, the first guitarist ever to receive the honor in its 59-year award history. This June she will receive the
Lifetime Achievement Award from the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Competition in Buffalo. Isbin is also the winner of the Toronto, Madrid and ARD Munich Competitions, Germany's Echo Klassik and Guitar Player's Best Classical Guitarist awards. Isbin has been soloist with nearly 200 orchestras and has performed in the world's finest halls. She performed in Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed, at
Ground Zero for the first internationally televised 9/11 memorial, the White House by invitation of President Obama, and as the only classical artist in the 2010 Grammy Awards. The documentary Sharon Isbin:
Troubadour seen by millions on over 200 PBS stations across the U.S. and abroad, won the ASCAP
Television Broadcast Award. Other recent highlights include a 21-city tour with jazz greats
Stanley Jordan and Romero Lubambo, collaborations with Sting, and sold-out performances at the
Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.
Isbin's catalogue of over 30 albums has sold nearly a million copies and reflects her remarkable versatility. Her August 2019 release with the Pacifica Quartet, Souvenirs of Spain & Italy, debuted at #1 on Amazon and #2 on Billboard. Isbin's Grammy-winning
Journey to the New World spent 63 consecutive weeks on top Billboard charts and her Rodrigo Aranjuez with the New York Philharmonic, their only recording with guitar, received a Latin Grammy nomination. She has commissioned and premiered over 80 works by some of the world's finest composers, and directs guitar departments she created at the Aspen Music Festival and The Juilliard School.
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