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Sharon Isbin chats about: 'Live in Aspen' with KUCI: Irvine

Interview with KUCI

Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique and versatility, multiple GRAMMY Award winner Sharon Isbin was named Musical America Worldwide’s 2020 Instrumentalist of the Year, the first guitarist ever to receive the coveted honor in their 59-year award history. She was inducted into the 2023 Guitar Foundation of America Hall of Fame and received their Artistic Achievement Award. Hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time”, she is the winner of Guitar Player magazine’s Best Classical Guitarist award, Germany’s Echo Klassik, Concert Artists Guild’s Virtuoso Award, the Toronto and Madrid Queen Sofia competitions, and the first guitarist to win the Munich ARD Competition. Isbin has appeared as soloist with over 200 orchestras and has given sold-out performances in many of the world’s finest halls across 40 countries, including New York’s Carnegie and Geffen Halls, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, London’s Barbican and Wigmore Halls, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’ Châtelet, Vienna’s Musikverein, Munich’s Herkulessaal, Argentina’s Teatro Colón, and Madrid’s Teatro Real. She has served as Artistic Director and soloist of festivals she created for Carnegie Hall and the Ordway Music Theatre (St. Paul), New York’s 92NY, and the national radio series Guitarjam.


Isbin’s newest recording Live in Aspen, released June 21, 2024 on ZOHO Music, features legendary Indian sarod masters Amjad Ali Khan, his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, and tabla virtuoso Amit Kavthekar was recorded live at their sold-out concert for the Aspen Music Festival, one of North America’s largest and most beloved summer festivals, and is being released in celebration of the festival’s 75th anniversary this season.

Their Strings for Peace (ZM202004), recorded following a tour in India, was awarded Best of 2020 by publications around the world. It rose to #2 on Amazon’s World Music Chart and was praised by Rolling Stone as “A remarkable spiritual and emotional journey,” and by NPR’s All Songs Considered as “Highly sensual, both in a spiritual and sexy way!”

Live in Aspen opens with Isbin’s solo performance of celebrated 19th-century Spanish guitarist Francisco Tárrega’s Capricho árabe, rich in Moorish influences. Spanish composers often found inspiration in flamenco, a tradition believed to have evolved in Andalucía with influences from the Romani who migrated from India hundreds of years ago.

Isbin is then joined by Ayaan Ali Bangash in Sacred Evening, the first of three works composed by Amjad Ali Khan for guitar, sarod and tabla. In By the Moon, Amaan Ali Bangash joins Isbin in a Raga Behag. Maestro Khan’s solo set includes folk music of Bengal, and the final work, Romancing Earth, features all five performers.

Isbin sat down with KUCI Radio - Irvine CA to discuss. Listen to the attached conversation