Sharon Isbin

Sharon Isbin (born in Minneapolis) is a classical guitarist and the founding director of the guitar department at the Juilliard School.

Sharon Isbin was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to attorney Katherine Brudnoy and Herbert S. Isbin, a nuclear scientist and professor at the University of Minnesota.

She began her guitar studies at age nine with Aldo Minella in Varese, Italy.

She later studied with Jeffrey Van, Sophocles Papas, Andrés Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, Alirio Díaz and for ten years with the noted keyboard artist and Bach scholar Rosalyn Tureck.

Isbin collaborated with Tureck in preparing landmark first performance editions of the Bach lute suites for guitar, published by G Schirmer, and recorded by Isbin as Complete Bach Lute Suites on Warner Classics.

Isbin created and directs the guitar departments at the Aspen Music Festival and the Juilliard School.

She began practicing Transcendental Meditation at age 17.

She received a B.A. cum laude from Yale University and a Master of Music (M.M.) from the Yale School of Music.

Isbin's catalogue of over 35 recordings has sold nearly one million copies and ranges from Baroque music, Spanish/Latin, and 20th century to crossover and jazz fusion.

In 1995 Isbin came out as a lesbian in a profile by Out magazine.

She wanted to come out a year earlier but her manager told her not to, only changing their mind after k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge found success as out musicians the following year.

Isbin has appeared as soloist with over 200 orchestras, and has commissioned more concertos than any other guitarist—including works by John Corigliano, Tan Dun, Aaron Jay Kernis, Joseph Schwantner, Lukas Foss, Chris Brubeck, and Christopher Rouse.

Her album Journey to the Amazon received a 1999 Grammy nomination for "Best Classical Crossover Album", and the album on which she appeared playing Aaron Jay Kernis' Double Concerto with violinist Cho-liang Lin and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra received a 2000 Grammy nomination for "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" for Kernis' Air for Violin.

Isbin won a Grammy Award in 2001 for Dreams of a World: Folk-Inspired Music for Guitar (Warner Classics) for "Best Instrumental Soloist", becoming the first classical guitarist to win a Grammy in 28 years.

Her world premiere recording of concertos written for her by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun won a Grammy in 2002.

On September 11, 2002, Isbin's performance for the memorial tribute at Ground Zero was televised live throughout the world.

In 2005, Isbin performed a world premiere of Blossom Suite along with the composer, rock guitarist Steve Vai.

Her earliest crossover collaborations began with Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida and jazz guitarist Larry Coryell.

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, and the recording was also the New York Philharmonic's first-ever recording with guitar.

In November 2009, Isbin performed a concert at the White House by invitation of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

In 2010, Isbin won another Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist for her CD Journey to the New World (Sony), which includes guests Joan Baez and Mark O'Connor.

The album spent 63 consecutive weeks on the top of the Billboard charts and was ranked as the number one bestselling classical CD on Amazon.com and iTunes during that time.

Her 2011 release, Sharon Isbin & Friends: Guitar Passions (Sony), became a bestseller on Amazon.com, and includes guest artists Steve Vai, Stanley Jordan, Nancy Wilson, Steve Morse, Romero Lubambo, Rosa Passos, Thiago de Mello, and Paul Winter.

Boston magazine called Isbin "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time".

She was the winner of Guitar Player magazine's Best Classical Guitarist award.

Isbin has also won the following awards:

New York's Carnegie Hall and Chicago's Harris Theater commissioned composer Richard Danielpour to write a song cycle for Isbin and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Carnegie Hall.

She has premiered over 80 works by world-renowned composers.

In 2014, she performed a 20-city Guitar Passions tour with jazz musicians Stanley Jordan and Romero Lubambo.

Other composers who have written for Isbin include Joan Tower, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, Howard Shore, John Duarte, Leo Brouwer, and Bruce MacCombie.

In October 2014, Warner Classics released a 5-CD box set of her most popular albums titled Sharon Isbin: 5 Classic Albums.

In 2015, she performed with Josh Groban on PBS's Billy Joel: Gershwin Prize concert, and in February 2015 she was featured on the Tavis Smiley PBS television series.

The acclaimed one-hour documentary Sharon Isbin: Troubadour won the 2015 ASCAP Television Broadcast Award.

Her Alma Espanola (Bridge) with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard was honored by a 2018 GRAMMY Award for Producer of the Year, Classical.

Her most recent releases are AFFINITY: World Premiere Recordings, and STRINGS FOR PEACE: Premieres for Guitar & Sarod with Amjad Ali Khan, both of which were named Best of 2020 by NPR, SiriusXM and multiple media.

Her Souvenirs of Spain & Italy (Cedille) with the Pacifica Quartet debuted at number two on the Billboard charts and at number one on Amazon.

Isbin also won Musical America’s 2020 Instrumentalist of the Year, becoming the first guitarist in their 59 award year history to receive the award.

She was the first guitarist to win the Munich ARD International Competition.