With 25 recordings, four Grammy Awards, and a mastery of repertoire ranging from the baroque to the 21st century, it seems there is nothing guitarist Sharon Isbin can’t do well.
Isbin will appear at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton on Saturday at 8 p.m. “The theme of the program, for the most part, is folk-inspired music,” she says. “That would include Spain, Latin America – including South America and Cuba – as well as our own country.
“There will be another couple of works that have been written for me, one of which is by Leo Brouwer, which is based on African love stories.” Also on the program will be music by Andrew York, formerly of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and Bruce MacCombie.
Isbin is the kind of performer composers love to write for. In the case of Brouwer, arguably Cuba’s most celebrated living composer, he sent her, unsolicited, the manuscript of “The Black Decameron.” The piece became an instant classic.
She has also had guitar concertos written for her by a number of other respected composers, including John Corigliano, Tan Dun, Lukas Foss, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner.
A 2015 documentary, “Sharon Isbin: Troubadour,” continues to air on PBS stations across the country. The film was a recipient of an ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Television Broadcast Award. Videos, including an excerpt from the documentary, news and touring information are posted at her website, http://www.sharonisbin.com.
Isbin will be the first of an impressive triumvirate of performers to appear at McCarter over the course of three days. Iranian-American harpsichord phenomenon Mahan Esfahani will present a stimulating program of works both old and new on Sunday at 3 p.m., and violinist Hilary Hahn will perform Bach, Mozart and Schubert, alongside music by Anton Garcia Abril and Hans Peter Turk, on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Learn more in my article in today’s Trenton Times.
http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/03/classical_music_sharon_isbin_m.html
