Sharon Isbin Plays 'The Black Decameron,' Written For Her By Leo Brouwer, on May 7, 2010

[Leo Brouwer; Sharon Isbin (Photo, LoHud.com]]

LoHud.com

An ArtsRock trifecta

By Peter D. Kramer • May 2, 2010

“Sharon Isbin

The past six months have been a study in dream fulfillment for classical guitarist Sharon Isbin. In November, she played the White House, 20 feet from President Barack Obama. In January, she won her second Grammy Award — best instrumental soloist performance (without orchestra) — for her far-reaching album 'Journey to the New World,' a CD that represented another dream come true: working with her folk hero Joan Baez. Isbin will bring her guitar and considerable talents to Nyack for a solo concert that will include the 'Joan Baez Suite,' which was written for Isbin by the late British composer John Duarte. Isbin says Duarte used Baez's early works 'as a springboard to allow his own creative ideas to emerge.'" “She'll also perform a work that the great Afro-Cuban guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer wrote for her, the 17-minute-long 'The Black Decameron.'”

On Page 171 of A Concise History of the Classic Guitar, Graham Wade identifies the publisher of The Black Decameron as Editions Musicales Transatlantiques, Paris (1983). Wade writes:

“Of the above, El Decameron Negro (The Black Decameron), dedicated to Sharon Isbin, became one of the most frequently played. The three movements, (The Warrior's Harp, The Flight of the Lovers through the Valley of Echoes, The Ballad of the Maiden in Love), based on African stories collected by the anthropologist and writer, Leon Frobenius, elevated guitaristic impressionism to new levels of intensity...” [The Afro-Cuban guitarist, composer and conductor Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) is profiled at AfriClassical.com]