Sharon Isbin & Jessica Rivera
February 6, 2022

Guitarist Sharon Isbin and soprano Jessica Rivera join forces for an exquisite afternoon Of Love and Longing. Their seductive program ranges from Spanish and Latin American songs and solo guitar music to award-winning American composer Richard Danielpour’s intensely expressive settings of poems by the Persian poet Rumi, evoking the rich and magnificent tradition of Spain.

Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique and versatility, Multiple GRAMMY Award winner Sharon Isbin was named the 2020 Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year, the first guitarist ever to receive the coveted honor in its 59-year history. She is often hailed as the pre-eminent guitarist of our time.

“Classical guitar’s reigning diva!” – Dallas Morning News

“Superb artistry ….mesmerizing finesse.” – Los Angeles Times

Hailed by the New York Times as “Vocally luminous”, with a voice praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for its “effortless precision and tonal luster,” GRAMMY Award-winner Jessica Rivera is one of the most creatively inspired vocal artists performing before the public today.

“Rivera floated a gorgeous pianissimo second verse of Villa-Lobos’ aria from Bachianas Brasilieros No. 5 and lent a Latina charge of her own to the Siete Canciones Populares Españolas by Falla. Isbin clearly likes to play this music. […] Rivera injected tons of personality while singing them with clarity.” – Aspen Times

“piquantly appealing settings of three poems of erotic and spiritual ecstasy” – Chicago Tribune on Richard  Danielpour’s Of Love and Longing

Program

Of Love and Longing

Spanish guitar solos inspired by voice:

ALBÉNIZ
– Asturias
– Mallorca

TÁRREGA
– Capricho arabe
– Recuerdos de la Alhambra  

Songs for voice and guitar:

DANIELPOUR
– “…Of Love and Longing”

GOLIJOV
– Lua Descolorida

VILLA-LOBOS
– Aria from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5

MONTSALVATGE/ISBIN
– Canciones Negras

DE FALLA
 – Siete Canciones populares Espanoles