Guitar virtuoso Sharon Isbin returns to Washington

Washington is in for a treat Sunday when virtuoso guitarist Sharon Isbin comes to Washington for the second time in as many months for an evening of solo works. The program will consist of music from Spain, Cuba, Paraguay and Venezuela along with the “Joan Baez Suite” for solo guitar by the late British composer John Duarte, a close friend of guitarist Andres Segovia. Isbin is a 2010 Grammy nominee for her performance of the suite on “Journey to the New World,” her latest recording made on the Sony Classical label with Baez and violinist Mark O’Connor. The release also includes O’Connor’s “Strings & Threads Suite.”

“This album is a tribute to Joan, one of my great folk heroes, to honor her 50th anniversary as a popular folk singer,” Isbin said. “Duarte wove together in a most interesting way ‘The House of the Rising Sun,’ ‘The Lily of the West,’ ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone’ and some of the other songs she made famous. Joan was so pleased with the suite that she offered to sing ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ and ‘Go ‘Way From my Window’ on the recording.

“The other work, Mark’s ‘Strings & Threads Suite,’ depicts the history of music in the New World, beginning with Britain. His ancestors came to the 13 colonies from Ireland, so it starts with a 16th-century Irish jig and traces music in America in 13 movements right up to ragtime, blues, swing and bebop.”

Isbin’s discography spans the world of music from Baroque to the present. She jokes that she was playing in a trio with jazz guitarist Larry Coryell when “crossover” was a dirty word. In 2001, she became the first classical guitarist in 28 years to win a Grammy Award for “Dreams of a World.” Her recording of concertos written for her by Christopher Rouse and Tan Dun earned a 2002 Grammy and received Germany’s Echo Klassik Award. In 2005, she won the Latin Grammy nomination for Best Classical Album. The same year, she and rock artist Steve Vai performed his “Blossom Suite” at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.

The founder of Juilliard School’s guitar department and the director of guitar departments at Aspen Music Festival, Isbin is nothing if not versatile. Her Classical Guitar Answer Book, a valuable aid to guitar students of all ages, was compiled from columns she wrote for Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Her expertise and techniques can be viewed next year in a documentary being filmed for PBS.

Isbin’s introduction to film scores came two years ago when she played Howard Shore’s Grammy-nominated score for the soundtrack of Martin Scorcese’s “The Departed” involving overdubs with herself. She was impressed by Shore’s explanation of the scenes and illumination of every crescendo to convey the story of the Boston mafia that Scorcese wished to tell through the concept of the tango as the dance of death.

She ranks the day she spent at the White House last month as one of the most enjoyable and fruitful she can remember. She shared it with three other renowned string artists: pianist Adwadigan Pratt, violinist Joshua Bell and cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

The event began with morning master classes during which the four coached 120 middle and high school music students. The classical afternoon program for youngsters that followed was the fourth in a series planned by Michelle Obama, who previously hosted programs featuring jazz, Latin and country artists. Later in the evening, Isbin performed a 10-minute solo set and a duet with Joshua Bell for President and Michelle Obama and several hundred guests.

“The day was surreal and exciting,” Isbin said. “Mrs. Obama hosts a marvelous music series to improve education and child development. I always find it inspiring to work with young guitarists like the 35 in that master class, and I was especially thrilled to perform before the first family.”