The 9th annual URI Guitar and Mandolin Festival returns to Kingston this month with a dozen concerts scheduled for October 13 and October 16-20. The internationally recognized event was originally established as a classical music festival but has expanded in recent years to include performers in a variety of genres – from gypsy jazz to Latin American to blues.
A highlight this year will be a concert featuring acclaimed guitarist Sharon Isbin. I spoke with the multiple Grammy Award-winner who is also the Founding Director of the Guitar Department at the Juilliard School in New York City by phone recently. I learned that Isbin has had a remarkable career, releasing over 30 albums, winning numerous awards, and even playing at the White House. She’ll be part of a program with SoloDuo (Lorenzo Micheli and M. Mela), at Edwards Auditorium at 7:30 on Friday October 18.
“I’m doing a set of five different solos; my set is music from Spain, Cuba, and Paraguay,” explained Isbin. “Everything connects in a Latin American sense. This year is the 85th birthday of Cuba’s best-known living composer, Leo Brouwer. To celebrate that, I’m playing a work that he wrote for me, ‘El Decameron Negro’ (The Black Decameron).”
“It’s inspired by love stories from Africa collected in the 19th century by a German ethnologist that are very descriptive. One tells the story of a warrior beloved by his tribe – he’s saved them from many an attacker – but when they discover that his passion is to play the harp, they turn against him, and he is banished from the tribe. It could be a metaphor for many things.”
“The first two movements are descriptive of the warrior fleeing on horseback, and the third movement is called ‘The Maiden in Love.’ It’s become one of Brouwer’s signature pieces,” added Isbin. It’s a piece she’s recorded twice, including in 2020, on her album AFFINITY: World Premiere Recordings, an album of compositions written specifically for Isbin.
“I open with a work that is impossible not to like by Granados, one of his Spanish dances called ‘Andaluza,’” continued Isbin. “You hear the beautiful Spanish melodies and rhythms in that. After the two Brauer works, I return to Spain with a 19th-century work by one of the great guitarist/composers of that time, Francisco Tárrega, called ‘Capricho Arabe,’ the first track on the Live in Aspen album, which is a celebration of my colleagues from India that explore ragas.
Isbin explained that many Roma, originally from India, migrated through Europe hundreds of years ago, with many landing in Spain, contributing to the Spanish flamenco style. That style influenced all the major Spanish composers. “It’s part of their DNA composing, whether it’s for orchestra, piano or voice, to incorporate the beauty, melodic, melismatic and rhythmic elements of Spanish flamenco,” she said.
Isbin has crossed genres in performance and on her releases, playing alongside numerous musicians across the genres including Joan Baez, Stanley Jordan, Nancy Wilson, Larry Coryell and Steve Vai.
“When I begin to explore all of these crossover projects, it happened really organically,” noted Isbin. “In those days, crossover was actually a dirty word. People said ‘you’re going to sabotage your career doing that.’ And I said don’t worry about it, this is beautiful music, people will love it. I’m doing it because of my passion for the artists and my respect for them and the music they create. That’s always the way I’ve moved in the world. It’s always because I’m convinced and inspired by their music. It always results in something new and different that’s never happened before.”
Isbin praised festival organizer Adam Levin. “I really admire what he’s done, this will be my first visit to the festival. It’s a tribute to the artists he’s selected.”
All concerts are open to the public – click here for further details.
