PORTLAND, MAINE – The Portland Performing Arts Festival presents classical guitarist Sharon Isbin in a solo recital featuring a program that contrasts Spanish guitar classics with contemporary American compositions. The festival performance is slated for Friday, June 29, 7pm at the Williston Immanuel United Church on High Street in Portland.
Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique and versatility, multiple GRAMMY Award winner Sharon Isbin has been hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time”. She holds the title of Director of the guitar departments at both the Aspen Music Festival and The Juilliard School (a department she created in l989 becoming the first and only guitar instructor in the institution’s 100-year history).
Born in Minneapolis, Sharon Isbin began her guitar studies at age nine in Italy, and later studied with Andrès Segovia and Oscar Ghiglia. Ms. Isbin has toured Europe annually since she was seventeen, and has also toured Canada, Japan and the Far East, New Zealand, South America, Mexico and Israel.
Sharon Isbin has expanded the guitar repertoire with some of the finest new works of the century. She has commissioned and premiered more concerti than any other guitarist, as well as numerous solo and chamber works. Her American Landscapes (EMI/Virgin Classics) with the SPCO conducted by Hugh Wolff is the first-ever recording of American guitar concerti and features works written for her by John Corigliano, Joseph Schwantner, and Lukas Foss. (In November 1995, it was launched in the space shuttle Atlantis and presented to Russian cosmonauts during a rendezvous with Mir.) In January 2000, she premiered the ninth concerto written for her: Concert de Gaudí by Christopher Rouse. Among the many other composers who have written for her are Joan Tower, David Diamond, Aaron Jay Kernis, Leo Brouwer, Howard Shore, Steve Vai, and Ned Rorem in whose documentary she is featured. In 2003 she premiered John Duarte’s Joan Baez Suite, and in 2005 she premiered a duo by rock guitarist Steve Vai in their joint concert in Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet.
Her program for the Festival performance is:
Spanish Dance #5 ………………………………….Enrique Granados (1867-1916)
The Black Decameron (1981) ……………………..…..Leo Brouwer (b.1939) (Written for Sharon Isbin)
• Lovers Fleeing through the Valley of the Echos
• The Harp of the Warrior
• The Maiden in Love
Capricho Arabe .…………..…………………………….Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909)
Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Mallorca.…….………………………………….…….…Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)
Asturias (transcribed by Andrés Segovia)
INTERMISSION
Joan Baez Suite, Opus 144 (2002)……………………. John Duarte (1919-2004)
(written for Sharon Isbin — commissioned by the Augustine Foundation)
1. Fantasia: Once I had a sweetheart; Rambler gambler; Barbara Allen
2. House of the rising sun
3. The lily of the west
4. The unquiet grave
5. Silkie
6. Where have all the flowers gone?
7. Finale: Rake and rambling boy; Wildwood flower; The trees they do grow high
La Catedral ……………………………………………Agustin Barrios Mangoré (1885-1944)
Waltz Opus 8, #4
The Portland Performing Arts Festival is a new four-day event, featuring eight performances of nationally renowned artists in classical music, jazz, dance, theater, and performance art. In its inaugural season, it presents two world premiere performances: of The Handsomest by Alison Chase/Performance, and of Thumbs up, a new play by the artists of the Celebration Barn Ensemble. Although tickets for each event may be purchased separately, a festival pass is available for ALL performances at a deep discount.
Featured Festival performances include:
June 28th:
Guitar Master Class, featuring visiting artists Sharon Isbin and Doug Wamble in teaching session with Maine artists, free and open to the public. 3pm, One Longfellow Square, 181 State Street, Portland
Maine performance art duo Eepybird (the Coke & Mentos guys), live demonstration spectacular. 6pm, Monument Square, Congress & Elm Streets, Portland (sponsored by Headlight Audio Visual) Free and open to the public: rain date Friday, June 29, 6pm
June 29th:
Sharon Isbin, classical guitar, solo concert. This multi-Grammy winning artist is regarded as the pre-eminent classical guitarist of our times. 7pm, Williston-Immanuel United Church, 156 High Street, Portland.
Tickets $20-45, plus ticketing fee
June 30th:
Alison Chase/Performance, contemporary dance ensemble. This new dance company presents the world premiere of choreography created by Maine resident and Pilobolus co-founder Alison Chase. 7pm, Merrill Auditorium, 20 Myrtle Street Portland Tickets $25-45 plus ticketing fee (co-presented by Portland Ovations)
Celebration Barn Ensemble, world premiere play, “Thumbs Up.” Created by the artists of the Celebration Barn, “Thumbs Up” is an inventive and uproarious look at Maine’s unique qualities and characters. 8pm, John Ford Theater @ Portland High School, 284 Cumberland Avenue, Portland
Tickets $15-30 plus ticketing fee
Doug Wamble, jazz. Featuring an 8-piece ensemble presenting “Yoknapatawpha,” an evening-length work based on the literary works of William Faulkner. 9pm, The State Theater, 609 Congress Street Portland (sponsored by The State Theater)
Tickets $20-40 plus ticketing fee
July 1st:
Celebration Barn Ensemble, “Thumbs Up,” matinee performance. 1pm, John Ford Theater @ Portland High School, 284 Cumberland Avenue, Portland
Tickets $15-30 plus ticketing fee
Piano Concert, Festival Finale. Curated by the Portland Conservatory, this concert presents the premier artists of the International Piano Festival in works by a variety of composers, including Maine resident Elliott Schawartz. 3pm, Williston-Immanuel United Church, 156 High Street, Portland
Tickets $15-25 plus ticketing fee
Tickets for all performances are available through PortTix, tickets.porttix.com. More information about all the Festival performances is available at www.portlandfestival.org.
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