When you’ve already been to Carnegie Hall, where do you play next?

If you’re internationally acclaimed guitarist Sharon Isbin, the answer is WCC’s Paliku Theatre — the setting for a sold-out concert March 28 in what has been called an “acoustically perfect” venue.

Throughout the evening Isbin’s music flowed — from lightning- quick finger picks to sustained melodies until the last vibrating note hung in the air.

Sudden and unexpected were her strums and plucks, but always with mastery and control.

The variety of the selections played was also noteworthy. Isbin’s program spanned the globe, from Baroque to Spanish dance to classic folk songs reinterpreted from cultures as varied as Venezuela and Israel.

A “Spanish Dance” by Enrique Granados began the evening followed by a brief story about the composer’s early death trying to save his wife after a German torpedo hit their ship on their way home from America.

Isbin also played and commented on music written specifically for her.

The “Black Decameron” by Leo Brouwer was derived from African love songs about a tribe’s greatest warrior banished from the tribe because he played the harp.

“A good metaphor for many things these days,” Isbin said before playing the song.

After intermission, Isbin told of and played music from even more eclectic sources, beginning with the “Joan Baez Suite” and ending with a waltz from the jungles of
Paraguay.

She also succeeded in making her guitar sound like a pipa, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. Isbin said Tan Dun, the composer of the piece about the pipa, found that in “using a modern instrument to reflect a traditional one (it was possible) to mix the spirit of the two.”

To introduce the song “Seven Desires for Guitar,” Isbin shared information about her friend and the song’s composer, Tan Dun.

She discussed his origins and fortunes, from being sent to become a rice farmer in mainland China’s Cultural Revolution to composing “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

Isbin is the head of Juilliard School´s guitar department, which she established in 1989. She is the first classical guitarist in 30 years to receive a Grammy, with three nominations and two as a winner.

In addition to continuously arranging for new material to be available for the classical guitar and working on new albums, Isbin also keeps an international itinerary of teaching and performance. When asked in an interview about her next event, she said she was too busy with the current tour to think about it.

“Playing in front of a good audience” is the most rewarding aspect of all her activities, Isbin said.

After her final encore, she made it a point to thank her audience for being so considerate and courteous.