Eliot Fisk

Eliot Fisk is widely regarded as one of the preeminent classical guitarists of our time. The last direct pupil of Andrés Segovia, Fisk graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1976, where he also studied interpretation with harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick. Just one year later, he founded the guitar department at the Yale School of Music.

Fisk has performed as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, among others, and has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wigmore Hall, and major festivals worldwide. His chamber music collaborations span an extraordinary range — from violinists Gidon Kremer and Joshua Bell to flamenco guitarist Paco Peña and jazz great Joe Pass.

A prolific transcriber, Fisk has created acclaimed guitar arrangements of works by Bach, Scarlatti, Paganini, and Mozart, while composers including Luciano Berio, Robert Beaser, and Leonardo Balada have dedicated new works to him. In 2006, King Juan Carlos of Spain awarded him the Cruz de Isabel la Católica for his service to Spanish music — an honor previously bestowed upon Andrés Segovia and Yehudi Menuhin.

Fisk holds professorships at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received the Krasner "Teacher of the Year" Award, and at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, where he teaches in five languages. He founded and directs the Boston GuitarFest, which has become one of the premier guitar events in the United States. His Eliot Fisk Guitar Series on VGo Recordings showcases the next generation of exceptional guitarists from his studio.