Celebrated Guitarist Sharon Isbin’s 2010 GRAMMY Award Winning, Debut Sony Masterworks Album Stars Legendary Folksinger Joan Baez and Violin Virtuoso Mark O’Connor, Featuring the World Premieres of Joan Baez Suite, Opus 144, and O’Connor’s Suite for Violin & Guitar
Sony Press Release by Jim Bessman
 
Recognized as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time” (Boston Magazine) and “the Monet of the classical guitar” (Atlanta Journal Constitution), Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin makes her Sony Masterworks debut with Journey to the New World. The extraordinary recording follows a musical progression from 16th century England, Ireland, and Scotland to the shores of America, with the music of the New World represented by Joan Baez—Isbin’s first music hero—and violin virtuoso/composer Mark O’Connor.
 
“This ‘journey’,” explains Isbin, “brings together my passion for Renaissance lute music with the country fiddle virtuosity of Mark O’Connor, a lifelong love of folk music inspired by my parents who taught folk dancing, and with Joan Baez, whose magical voice has moved me to tears for as long as I can remember.”
 
Journey to the New World begins with four English Renaissance lute duets (“Drewrie’s accordes”, John Dowland’s “Lord Willoughby’s Welcome Home”, “Rossignol”, and John Johnson’s variations on “Greensleeves”), with Isbin performing both duet parts. Next, two songs from the British Isles (Irish sea shanty “Drunken Sailor”, originating in the late 16th/early 17th century, and “Wild Mountain Thyme” which evokes an 18th century Scottish song). Fellow American guitarist/composer Andrew York’s haunting “Andecy” perfectly bridges the folk music of the British Isles with that of the New World.
 
The seven-movement Joan Baez Suite, which the late English composer John Duarte wrote for Isbin in 2002, represents his reactions to the spirit and texts of classic Baez folk songs. When Baez, who celebrates the 50th anniversary of her career this season, heard Isbin perform the suite, she offered to sing on the recording. She joins Isbin in heartfelt renditions of “Wayfaring Stranger” and John Jacob Niles’ “Go Way from My Window”.
 
Mark O’Connor’s 13-movement Strings & Threads Suite traces the composer’s own ancestral roots in Ireland down to the 13 original American colonies, followed by the eventual migration to the American West. The work effectively brings Isbin’s “Journey” to a conclusion, while musically depicting how the varied folk music styles—reels, waltzes, blues, spirituals, swing, and bebop—are interconnected. Originally written for solo violin, O’Connor adapted the suite for violin and guitar, where it receives its world premiere recording.
 
Journey to the New World stands out, says Isbin: “It’s one of the most unusual and creative albums I’ve ever done. It’s been percolating subconsciously for many years, because folk music was my introduction to guitar and I have been touched so powerfully by the music and voice of Joan Baez. Somehow this collaboration was meant to be—though I could never have imagined it back then!”
 
“Sharon’s exquisite playing allowed me to revisit and fall in love with these songs all over again.”
  Joan Baez
 
“The beauty and range of Sharon’s guitar creates the perfect musical setting and imagery. America and the guitar have become inseparable in their musical manifestations, and Sharon’s performance on this recording expresses these connections as richly as you will ever hear.”
  Mark O’Connor

Introduction to GRAMMY Award winning Dreams of a World
by Sharon Isbin

The inspiration for this album is folk music—from the Appalachian Mountains, the British Isles, Spain, Greece, Israel, Cuba, Venezuela, and Brazil. Folk music was what first drew me to the guitar as a child. Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Burl Ives, Malvina Reynolds, Joan Baez ... these are just some of the singers I grew up hearing. My scientist/lawyer parents were avid folk dancers in their spare time and I discovered exotic new cultures in the excitement of their rehearsals and costumed performances. My first guitar was a pint-size version they brought back from Mexico when I was three years old. The crudely cut wood did not yield much of a sound, but it was my cherished prop when I dressed up as a folk singer the following Halloween.
 

Age 3

I was nine when our family moved from Minneapolis to Italy for a year. It was my entry-by default-into classical guitar. My oldest brother wanted to be the next Elvis Presley, but when he learned that his teacher-to-be Aldo Minella taught Giuliani not ‘Jailhouse Rock’, he opted out of lessons. So I volunteered. A few years later, while studying dances of Lauro with Alirio Diaz and listening to flamenco music, I began my journey back to the guitar’s folk roots. Now, having traveled to some forty countries, I have come to appreciate and love the beautiful music associated with these diverse cultures that expresses the history, legends, identities, and passions of a people.

Introduction to GRAMMY Nominated Journey to the Amazon
by Sharon Isbin

My love affair with South American music started when I was fourteen and studying for a summer with the great Venezuelan guitarist, Alirio Diaz. The spontaneity, exuberance, and joy in his playing of Latin dances was irresistible. I felt an immediate affinity for this music.
 
This passion would lead to many exciting collaborations. Among the first was with Carlos Barbosa-Lima, whose brilliant arrangements of Brazilian and American music have contributed important new repertoire for guitar, much of which we’ve played and recorded together over the years. Our creative partnership, performances and friendship with the legendary Antonio Carlos Jobim were an especially inspiring part of this journey.
 
In l984, I traveled to Brazil to give a recital tour at the invitation of the Brazilian government. The radiance and magic of places like Ipanema and Corcovado suddenly came to life. I began to appreciate the intimate connection between the country and its music. That same year, I was invited to perform with Laurindo Almeida and Larry Coryell in a bossa nova/classical/jazz fusion trio. Our trio Guitarjam was born, and we toured and recorded together for five years. It was a privilege for me to learn from and share in the beautiful artistry of Laurindo’s music-making during his last decade. He was a cherished friend and is dearly missed.
 
Our trio’s New York debut took place during a week-long festival I created and directed in 1985 for Carnegie Hall called Guitarstream International. It was there that I had the pleasure of performing for the first time with the Brazilian composer / arranger / percussionist from the Amazon rain forest, Gaudencio Thiago de Mello. Working with him created new dimensions of rhythm, color, and nuance. His wizardry at the helm of such exotic instruments as the rain stick, berimbau, jungle’s mouth and tortoise shell evoked the spirit and image of the rain forest itself.
 
A few years later, I made the first of several trips to visit rain forests in Costa Rica and Ecuador. Floating down the Napo River in a dugout canoe with piranhas, electric eels, and glistening crocodiles afoot, monkeys, sloths, toucans, macaws, and an occasional python in the lush foliage overhead, I was in a state of bliss. Surely, this was the Garden of Eden. I had no idea then that this experience would come to figure in my music as well.
 
Having experienced a taste of Thiago’s world in my travels, I became particularly fascinated with his compositions about the Amazon. We began performing in a series of projects—from concerts to a recording to my national radio series, Guitarjam. I relished bringing the rain forest and its inhabitants to life through music.
 
How fitting, then, that our guest on this recording would be Paul Winter. Paul’s love of nature has led him to integrate his music with a life-long quest to preserve the environment and champion endangered species. Like Thiago, his beautiful and haunting voice carries us to another world, a dream of the past and a hope for the future.
 
In this spirit, I dedicate the music and performances of Journey to the Amazon to the memory of Laurindo Almeida, Tom Jobim, and—on the first anniversary of his passing—to my beloved brother Neil Isbin.
 
  Sharon Isbin, July 20, 1997