Two-time Grammy winner receives Distinguished Alumni Award Sharon Isbin, a 1974 graduate from St. Louis Park High School and a two-time Grammy Award winner, has been named the recipient of the second annual Distinguished Alumni Award. Ms. Isbin, a classical guitarist, who has been called "The Monet of the guitar" will be honored during Homecoming Week (September 26-30) at the Senior High School. She is acclaimed for her formidable techniques and musical intelligence. Sharon has proven herself to be a probing, insightful, forward-moving musician who constantly seeks to expand the possibilities of the instrument and broaden the scope of her repertoire. Boston Magazine stated, "Sharon Isbin is the pre-eminent guitarist of our time." In 2001 this Grammy winner won for "Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra." This was the first classical guitar Grammy winner in twenty-eight years. She won another in 2002. This year she was just nominated for the Latin Grammy for her recording with the New York Philharmonic. This was the Philharmonic's first ever recording with guitar. In 1995, her recording "American Landscapes" was the first American guitar concerto presentation to a Russian cosmonaut rendezvous between the space shuttle Atlantic and the Russian spaceship Mir. On September 11, 2002, Ms. Isbin performed at Ground Zero for the reading of the names memorial an internationally televised broadcast. She has won the Guitar Player Magazine's "Best Classical Guitarist" award, The Madrid Queen Sofia Competition, the Toronto Competitions and was the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition. She has commissioned and premiered more concerti than any other guitarist. Her performances at New York's Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Avery Fisher Hall in Boston have been sold out performances. Ms. Isbin is the author of the Classical Guitar Answer Book, and is currently Director of the Guitar Department at the Juilliard School, which she created in 1989 becoming the first and only guitar instructor in the institution's ninety-year history. Sharon Isbin began her guitar studies at age nine in Italy. She received her B.A. from Yale University and a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music. She will be accepting the award in person on Saturday, March 25, 2006 (time and place to be determined). The first recipient was Thomas L. Friedman, a 1971 graduate at St. Louis Park High School. Thomas is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and a writer at the New York Times. Anyone who is interested in nominating an alumnus can download this form, complete it, and send it to: Nancy Lapakko 3371 Brownlow Ave. S. St. Louis Park, MN 55426 Fax: 952-927-9839. The deadlines for next year will be announced at a later date. Questions: Contact Nancy, lapakkofam@yahoo.com (952) 457-1919

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