Eliot Fisk

Eliot Fisk (born August 10, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American classical guitarist.

Biography

Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andrés Segovia and is the holder of all reproduction rights to Segovia's music, given to him by Segovia's wife, Emilia. After attending Jamesville-Dewitt High School in Dewitt, New York, Fisk also studied interpretation under harpsichordists Ralph Kirkpatrick and Albert Fuller at Yale University, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1976. After graduation, he was asked to form the Guitar Department at the Yale School of Music. He was the winner of the International Guitar Competition in 1980. He is a professor at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria, where he teaches in five different languages, and in Boston at the New England Conservatory. His students have come from many countries, and several have gone on to become important performers and teachers in their own right.

Fisk lives in Boston, Salzburg, and Granada, Spain with his wife, Zaira, and their 6-year-old daughter, Raquel. He uses a handmade Thomas Humphrey Millennium guitar and another by upcoming luthier Stephan Connor. He received the Grand Cross of Isabel la Cátolica on June 10, 2006, from King Juan Carlos of Spain. Earlier recipients have included Andrés Segovia and Yehudi Menuhin. Fisk earned the award for contributions to Spanish music as an interpreter and teacher.

Career and evaluation

An innovative performer, Fisk is known for an adventurous repertoire and willingness to take art music into unusual venues, including schools, senior centers and even prisons. He has received critical acclaim in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras and in a wide variety of chamber music combinations. In 1996 he appeared in a command performance in the Palacio de los Cordova in Granada, Spain, for then U.S. President Bill Clinton and King Juan Carlos and their families.

Fisk is founder and director of Boston Guitar Fest, an annual event held in the month of June at the New England Conservatory. This workshop is dedicated to exploring new technical and musical possibilities of the guitar within an international cultural context. He has expanded the repertoire for the guitar through transcriptions of works by Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Paganini, and others, as well as through commissions from various composers including Luciano Berio, Leonardo Balada, Robert Beaser, Wiliam Bolcom, Xavier Montsalvatge, Nicholas Maw, George Rochberg and Kurt Schwertsik. His transcriptions and editions are published by Universal, Presser, Ricordi and Guitar Solo Publications.

His recordings for the Musical Heritage Society, DGG, Arabesque, and EMI have been much praised and even entered the Billboard charts as bestsellers. Many of these recordings include repertoire never before performed on the guitar such as his reading of the 24 solo violin "Capricci", Op. 1 of Paganini, and his recordings of contemporary works by Berio and Rochberg or his recording with Paula Robison of Robert Beaser’s "Mountain Songs", which was nominated for a Grammy.

Fisk's efforts in unconventional musical territory have included collaborations with chanteuse Ute Lemper, Turkish music expert Burhan Öçal, jazz musician Joe Pass, and master of castanets Lucero Tena. Upcoming projects include the premiere of a new quintet for guitar and strings by Leonardo Balada with the Miro String Quartet, the premiere of a new guitar concerto by Robert Beaser, and a nationwide tour of the US resulting in a duo CD with flamenco guitarist Paco Peña.

Discography

*"Guitar Music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco" with Czech Phiharmonic Orchestra, :Richard Kapp, Conductor · The Shanghai String Quartet · Musical Heritage Society

*J.S. Bach "The Six Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord":BWV 1014 - 1019 · Transcribed by Eliot Fisk for Violin, Guitar, and Cello · Benjamin Hudson, violin · Eliot Fisk, guitar · Gyorgy Vognar, violoncello · GOOD International

*"Mountain Songs" with flutist Paula Robison:Robert Beaser's Cycle of American Folk Music · MusicMasters 67038-2

*"The Artistry of Eliot Fisk":Two-disc sampling of previous recordings (various composers) · Musical Heritage Society

*Vivaldi "Concerto in D Major for Lute, RV. 93, Largo"

*J.S. Bach "The Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin":Two disc set: BWV 1001 - 1006 · MusicMasters

*"Canciones Latinas" with Paula Robison, flute:Works by Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Peramo, Casals, Piazzolla, Ginastera and Ovalle plus traditional folk melodies of Latin America · MusicMasters 67193-2

*Segovia Canciones Populares :Premiere recording of original compositions and arrangements by Andres Segovia · MusicMasters 67174-2

*J. S. Bach "Trio Sonatas" with Albert Fuller, Harpsichord:The 6 Trio Sonatas BWV 525-530 transcribed for guitar and harpsichord · MusicMasters 67182-2
*Paganini "24 Caprices":24 Violin Caprices transcribed for solo guitar · MusicMasters 67092-2

*"Bell'Italia: Four Centuries of Italian Music":Scarlatti, Frescobaldi, Locatelli, Fiorillo and others

*Scarlatti "Sonata in A Major (originally in F Major), K. 274, Andante" :MusicMasters 67079-2

*Scarlatti "18 Sonatas" :Harpsichord sonatas arranged for solo guitar by Eliot Fisk · VGo Recordings VG 1003

*"Für Eliot":Scarlatti, Martin, Ponce, Paganini, Relly Raffman · GSP 1008

*"The Best of Eliot Fisk":Paganini, Sagreras, Barrios-Mangoré, D. Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Mozart, J. S. Bach, Rochberg, Beaser and others· MusicMasters 67151-2

*"Sequenza!":Berio, D. Scarlatti, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Beethoven &middot MusicMasters 67150-2

*George Rochberg "Caprice Variations":50 Variations on Paganini's 24th Caprice · MusicMasters 67133-2

*"Vivaldi Concerti":Vivaldi Concerti and Other Works with the Orchestra of St. Luke's · MusicMasters 67097-2

*"Eliot Fisk Plays Guitar Fantasies":Mozart, Couperin, Sor, Poulenc, Weiss, Dowland, J. S. Bach and others · MusicMasters 67008-2

*"The Latin American Guitar":Ponce, Sagreras, Sojo, Lauro and Barrios-Mangoré · MusicMasters 67127-2

*"Eliot Fisk Performs Works by Baroque Composers":J. S. Bach, Frescobaldi, Scarlatti · MusicMasters 67130-2

*"Virtuoso Guitar":J. S. Bach, Scarlatti, Froberger · MusicMasters 67128-2

*"The Classical Guitar":Mozart, Haydn, Paganini, Soler · MusicMasters 60034-2

*"Two American Virtuosi" with Carol Wincenc, flute:Giuliani, Gossec, Ravel, Milhaud, Godard, Poulenc and Bartok · MusicMasters 60059-2

*"Latin American Guitar Music":Ponce, Barrios-Mangore and others · Angel Records 47760-2

*"Eliot Fisk Plays Villa-Lobos, Sojo, Morel, Barrios-Mangoré":EMI Classics 14 6757-1

*"Eliot Fisk":Dowland, Philips, Howett, Holborne, Britten and Others · EMI Classics 27 0217-1

*"The Spanish Guitar":Granados, de Falla, Turina · EMI Classics 27 0216-1

External links

* [http://www.eliotfisk.com/ Eliot Fisk official web site]
* [http://member.hitel.net/~ARAMGTRR/fisk.html Fan site for Eliot Fisk]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o_aTdVFZZo Masterclass]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbeAbllBpGo Paganini's Caprice No. 24]
* [http://digital-library.csun.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=/IGRAdiscography&CISOBOX1=Fisk%2C+Eliot Some photos of LP covers] (Oviatt Library Digital Collections)
* [http://www.juliacrowe.com/2005pdf/FiskCGM.pdf Julia Crowe's Interview with Eliot Fisk.]