World-renowned classical guitarist Sharon Isbin will be coming to Chicago's Harris Theater March 6, fresh off the heels of her most recent Grammy win. The musician and out lesbian is the first classical guitarist in 43 years to win a second Grammy for classical guitar, which continues to prove why she is one of the instrument's modern pioneers.
Isbin is most known for her ability to master many styles from all over the world. She also collaborates frequently with other musicians who specialize in anywhere from South American music to rock. In Chicago she will be accompanied by fiddle virtuoso Mark O'Connor, who composed and recorded the "Strings & Threads Suite," one of the featured pieces on Isbin's award-winning CD, Journey to the New World.
Her prowess with classical guitar has opened up numerous opportunities for Isbin. She performed at Ground Zero on the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, was featured prominently in Howard Shore's score for the Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese film The Departed and, most recently, performed at events such as Michelle Obama's Evening of Classical Music at the White House and the Grammy's pre-televised concert. She also chartered the famed Juilliard School's classical-guitar program.
The March 6 concert will feature a number of collaborative pieces between Isbin and O'Connor, including the "Suite." Both musicians will supplement that with their own solo sets, Isbin's featuring some of her South American and Spanish music.
Windy City Times: How was this second [ Grammy ] win different or more meaningful for you in any way, or maybe the question to ask is, "Why is it special for this particular album, Journey to the New World?"
Sharon Isbin: This is an album that was something really close to my heart. I really wanted to pay homage to Joan Baez; I've admired her work for many years both as an artist and a civil rights advocate and this was a beautiful way to be able to do so. The centerpiece of the album, of course, is the "Joan Baez Suite," and when she heard it she offered to sing two songs: "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Go 'Way from My Window." Seeing as the entire journey of the music is from the 16th-century British Isles up through just before the evolution of bluegrass, really tracing the development of folk music in the New World from the British Isles, it was really something that all made sense in terms of paying homage to what I think is what I think is one of our world's greatest folk singers.
And one of the things that was different about this experience at the Grammys is they have now created in the [ pre-televised event ] , the opportunity to feature a couple of performances, so they asked me to perform a solo and to be joined by a bluegrass band, which was enormous fun. Then, of course, one has the opportunity when the award is given to go up and receive that, and I was very honored that the person who presented it to me was none other than Roberta Flack—who, of course, I listened to all through college.
WCT: Your performance here in Chicago March 6 is with renowned violinist Mark O'Connor. You've played in so many different venues: by yourself, with orchestra. In what ways are you looking forward to these few concerts with just Mark?
Sharon Isbin: Every kind of collaboration that I have involves a different style of music, whether I'm playing my Amazonian Brazilian music with Paul Winter and Thiago de Mello, a group I've worked with for a number of years, or whether I'm working with a singer or with Mark O'Connor—with Mark of course it gives me the opportunity to explore some of the different styles in his music from bebop and blues and ragtime, waltzes, jigs all kinds of fun music that is part of the popular folk culture of the violin in the United States.
WCT: I was thinking about the versatility of your playing and the classical guitar and your love of so many styles from all over the world. Then I saw on your Web site that you love to travel. I'm guessing there's a connection there.
Sharon Isbin: Well, I've been really fortunate to have the kind of career that allows me to explore the world and in that process I've learned a lot about different cultures so I've been fascinated with everything from the Japanese shamisen to the koto to all kinds of instruments that I have found in Greece and Yugoslavia and other parts of the world. It's a big family of plucked instruments and whether it's the banjo or the guitar there are literally many dozens of others and in that process of discovering different cultures it's brought me to a lot musicians and styles of music that I might not otherwise have been exposed to. So the idea of traveling in the world and traveling in the musical world is something that goes hand in hand.
WCT: You grew up in a time where most girls who picked up a guitar wanted to learn folk and pop. Did you ever feel like what you were learning was counterculture or did you relish the opportunity to do something much more unique?
Sharon Isbin: I was very aware that playing class guitar in the late 1960s was exotic, so that was definitely attractive to me.
WCT: What has it meant to you to be a revolutionary musician in terms of being a woman, a lesbian and a classical guitarist, especially now coming off another Grammy win?
Sharon Isbin: Well I'm just very gratified that an instrument that has taken so many years to become recognized on the mainstream stage, beginning really with Segovia in the 1950s, has now really come into its own and is being celebrated. I'd have to say it was an honor that it was the first time in 43 years that a guitarist has received a second classical Grammy. When I received mine in 2001 it was the first time in almost 30 years that any guitarist had received a classical Grammy. History is still being made and, for me, it's all about the music and having the opportunities to share music that I find really beautiful and is meaningful and that touches people's hearts.
WCT: You told Amy [ Matheny of Windy City Queercast ] that, for you, being a lesbian and being a musician don't have anything to do with one another—which I would definitely agree with—but what ways has being out changed your career and accompanied your journey of being a classical guitarist?
Sharon Isbin: Again, I think it's something that's peripheral to what I do because there are no lyrics involved in my music. But on a very specific level I would never have been a part of [ an episode of the TV show ] The L-Word if it hadn't been for my openness.
WCT: Yeah, normally when an openly gay artist inspires his or her LGBT fans you can cite lyrics or music videos as the reason they relate or feel a deep connection to the artist. I imagine you have a strong LGBT following, so where do you think they draw that connection to you and your work?
Sharon Isbin: Again, I think it's all about the humanity of the music. The guitar is a very intimate instrument, it's one that has great appeal throughout different cultures and generations because it's an instrument that has been associated with so many different styles that we are familiar with from rock, pop, folk, bluegrass, blues—you name it. So there's something very hip about it, and when people hear it played as a solo instrument—for the rhythm section, the melody the harmony—all that is with one person. It's very exciting; it's a realm of discovery. I've been in many situations where I've performed and participated in events that are not classically oriented and people are very much drawn to what for them is a new sound … It's always great for me to introduce people to something they haven't heard before. The guitar is an instrument that's easy to fall in love with.
WCT: Where do you see the future of classical guitar? Where are you hoping that this instrument, this wide style of music, will go?
Sharon Isbin: I think the instrument is in a wonderful place right now because it has enormous versatility, whether it's doing contemporary music working with modern day composers—I've worked with many composers who are considered the great creative forces of our time and I've recorded all the music they've written for me … So I think the instrument has reached its place of acceptance as a soloist, with orchestra, on the concert stage and as a chamber-music instrument—so it's a very open field out there.
For more on Isbin and to watch videos of her live performances, visit sharonisbin.com . Tickets to the March 6, 7:30 p.m., performance at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, see www.harristheaterchicago.org .
