Featuring UCLA Artist-In-Residence, Eliot Fisk
"I consider Eliot Fisk as one of the most brilliant, intelligent and gifted young musical artists of our times, not only amongst guitarists but in all the general field of instrumentalists. His clear and flexible technique, his noble style of interpreting the beauty of the classic compositions as well as the colorful music of today, put him at the top line of our artistic world." – Andrés Segovia
Closing out his residency with our Composition students, classical guitarist Eliot Fisk performs a recital of material ranging from classical to contemporary works.
This program is made possible by the Joyce S. and Robert U. Nelson Fund. Robert Uriel Nelson was a revered musicologist and music professor at UCLA, who, together with his wife, established a generous endowment for the university to make programs like this possible.
About Eliot Fisk
A passionate advocate for the cause of music, Eliot Fisk was described by a New York Times headline as a “Fiery Missionary to the Unconverted.” Eliot Fisk has been performing around the world to critical and public acclaim and in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls for over half a century.
He has revolutionized the repertoire of the guitar through his groundbreaking transcriptions of countless works across 5 centuries including the entire J.S Bach solo violin, cello and lute music, the 24 Paganini Capricci, dozens of Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti and numerous other compositions from the Renaissance to the present day.
Eliot Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andres Segovia and also studied interpretation with the legendary harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale University, from which he graduated with a BA “summa cum laude” in 1976, and where, after earning his MM degree with honors in 1977, he founded the guitar department at the Yale School of Music later that same year.
Eliot Fisk has commissioned numerous works for solo guitar, chamber music with guitar and guitar and orchestra from eminent composers including, Luciano Berio, Leonardo Balada, Robert Beaser, Ralph Gawlick, Cristobal Halffter, Nicholas Maw, George Rochberg, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Kurt Schwertsik among many others.
Since 1989 he has been Professor at the Universität “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria, where he teaches in 5 languages, and since 1996 in Boston at the New England Conservatory where, in 2010, he received the Krasner Award as “Teacher of the Year.” In June 2006, King Juan Carlos of Spain awarded Eliot the “Cruz de Isabel la Católica” for his service to the cause of Spanish music. Earlier recipients of this honor have included Andres Segovia and Yehudi Menuhin. In the summer of 2014, he toured China for the first time performing with his wife, classical guitarist, Zaira Meneses, and the couple’s young daughter, pianist, Raquel Fisk.
Together with Ms. Meneses, Eliot Fisk is Founder and Artistic Director of Boston GuitarFest an annual cross-disciplinary event co-sponsored by the New England Conservatory and Northeastern University and now entering its 16th consecutive year, and the newly launched Eliot Fisk Guitar Academy. In 2017 he created and served as Artistic Director of the first-ever and immensely successful Salzburg Guitar Fest at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Many of his dozens of CDs dating back to the mid-1970s have become best sellers and established his place as predicted by his mentor Andres Segovia many years ago “ at the top line of our artistic world.”