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{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name             = Eliot Fisk
| image            = EliotFisk+AndrésSegovia-ca. 1985.jpg
| caption          = Eliot Fisk with his mentor [[Andrés Segovia]]
| background       = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1954|8|10}}
| birth_place      = {{nowrap|[[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, U.S.}}
| genre            = [[Classical music|Classical]]
| occupation       = Musician, teacher
| instrument       = Classical guitar
| years_active     = 1976–present
<!--| spouse           = Zaira Meneses-->
| label            = [[Musical Heritage Society]], [[MusicMasters Records|MusicMasters]], [[Naxos Music|Naxos]],  [[Albany Records|Albany]],  [[Nimbus Records|Nimbus]], [[Wildner Records|Wildner]]
| website          = {{URL|www.eliotfisk.com|EliotFisk.com}}
}}

'''Eliot Hamilton Fisk''' (born August 10, 1954) is an American classical guitarist.<ref name="Toscone">{{cite book|last1=Tosone|first1=Jim|title=Classical guitarists : conversations|date=2000|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=0-7864-0813-8}}</ref>

==Music career==

===Education and teaching===
Fisk was born into a [[Quaker]] family in Philadelphia.<ref name="Searching">{{cite news |last1=Eichler |first1=Jeremy |title=Searching in the guitar for all the colors of the orchestra |url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2011/06/10/searching_in_the_guitar_for_all_the_colors_of_the_orchestra/ |work=Boston Globe |accessdate=September 29, 2016 |date=June 10, 2011}}</ref> He finished high school in [[Jamesville-DeWitt High School|DeWitt, New York]], and then studied music at [[Yale University]] with [[harpsichord]]ists [[Ralph Kirkpatrick]] and [[Albert Fuller (musician)|Albert Fuller]].<ref name=Post-Standard >{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Melinda  |title=Guitarist Eliot Fisk to perform with Symphoria on Saturday night |work=Syracuse Post Standard |date=March 8, 2013 |url=https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2013/03/guitarist_eliot_fisk_to_perfor.html}}</ref><ref name="AllMusic Bio">{{cite web |last1=Morita |first1=Patsy |title=Eliot Fisk {{!}} Biography & History |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/eliot-fisk-mn0000164017/biography |website=AllMusic |accessdate=September 29, 2016}}</ref> He received both B.A. and M.S. degrees, and in 1977 started Yale's guitar department.<ref name="Official">{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://www.eliotfisk.com/biography|website=Eliot Fisk|accessdate=September 29, 2016}}</ref> He was a student of guitarists [[Oscar Ghiglia]], [[Alirio Díaz]], and [[Andrés Segovia]]. He received private lessons from Segovia over the years and was  his last private student.<ref name="Official" /> Segovia became his mentor and one of his biggest admirers.<ref name="AllMusic Bio" />

In 1989 Fisk became an instructor at the [[Mozarteum University of Salzburg]] in Austria and in 1996 at the [[New England Conservatory of Music]] in Boston.<ref name="AllMusic Bio" /> He created the Boston GuitarFest and is its artistic director.<ref name="Official" />

===Performing===
Fisk has performed with orchestras around the world, including [[Orchestra of St. Luke's]], [[Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra]], [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]], [[Houston Symphony]], [[American Composers Orchestra]], and the [[Pro Arte Orchestra]]. In [[chamber music]] settings, he has performed with the [[Juilliard String Quartet]], [[Miró Quartet]], [[Chilingirian Quartet]], and [[Shanghai Quartet]]. He has performed and recorded with flautist [[Paula Robison]]; violinist [[Ruggiero Ricci]], jazz guitarists [[Joe Pass]] and [[Bill Frisell]], flamenco guitarist [[Paco Peña]], and singer [[Ute Lemper]].<ref name="Official" /> Early in his career he was in recitals with soprano [[Victoria de los Ángeles]].<ref name="Serinus">{{cite web|last1=Serinus|first1=Jason Victor|title=Interview: Eliot Fisk - Classical Guitarist|url=http://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_2/feature-interview-eliot-fisk-4-2007.html|website=Home Theater Hi-Fi|accessdate=September 29, 2016|date=April 2007}}</ref>

===Transcriptions, commissions===
Fisk has increased the amount of material available to classical guitarists by transcribing music written for other instruments. This increased repertoire includes his transcriptions of [[Bach]], [[Alessandro Scarlatti|Scarlatti]], [[Paganini]], [[Mendelssohn]], [[Mozart]], [[Haydn]] and [[Schubert]].<ref name="Official" />

He has also expanded the body of music for classical guitar by [[commission (art)|commission]]ing new pieces from composers, such as [[Leonardo Balada]], [[Robert Beaser]], [[Luciano Berio]], [[William Bolcom]],  [[Nicholas Maw]], [[Xavier Montsalvatge]], [[George Rochberg]], and [[Kurt Schwertsik]].<ref name="Serinus" />

The volume and impact of his transcriptions, as well as of his teaching, has led him to be called "the [[Liszt]] of the guitar."<ref>Introduction to Fisk's concert on November 6th, 2021, at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco. See for instance [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fqqySSaS4], accessed September 2, 2023.</ref>

===Recording===
In the 1990s, Segovia's widow gave Fisk unpublished compositions by Segovia. Fisk turned these compositions into ''Segovia: Canciones Populares'', which became a bestseller on the Classical Album chart of ''Billboard'' magazine.<ref name="AllMusic Bio" /> His transcription of violinist Niccolò Paganini's ''24 Caprices'' also entered the chart and was widely praised. He collaborated with [[Ernesto Halffter]], at the request of Segovia, on Halffter's Concierto for Guitar and Orchestra, which was performed with the Spanish National Orchestra and then turned into an album. With flutist [[Paula Robison]], he recorded [[Robert Beaser]]'s ''Mountain Songs'', which was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]] in 1987.<ref name="Naxos">{{cite web|title=Eliot Fisk- Bio, Albums, Pictures|url=http://www.naxos.com/person/Eliot_Fisk/1453.htm|website=Naxos|accessdate=September 30, 2016}}</ref>

===Awards and honors===
* First place, International Guitar Competition, [[Gargnano]], Italy (1980)
* Grammy Award nomination, ''Mountain Songs'' (1987)
* [[Order of Isabella the Catholic|Grand Cross of Isabel la Cátolica]], for contribution to Spanish music (2006)
* Teacher of the Year, New England Conservatory (2010)
* Best Classical Guitarist, ''[[Guitar Player]]'' magazine Readers Poll

==Views on guitarists==
{{Copy to Wikiquote|section=yes|date=December 2011}}

Eliot Fisk has said:
* "It's true that Segovia didn't get compositions from Bartók, Stravinsky, Prokifiev and a lot of composers we would like to have pieces from. Maybe he was in a position to have done that, but on the other hand, who among us has done as much as he did? If other people were interested, they could've tried to commission them. Besides, this criticism of Segovia is pointless. If you disagree with what Segovia did, take that energy and go out and do something positive. Otherwise, shut up."<ref name="Toscone" />
* "Now, it's different when [[John Williams (guitarist)|John Williams]], who studied with Segovia, says he wasn't a good teacher and the like. There is a difference in generation. [...] I didn't have Segovia butting into my life, telling me to do this and that. That's why John needed to rebel violently."<ref name="Toscone" />
* "My rebellion is in truth against [[Julian Bream|Bream]] and [[John Williams (guitarist)|Williams]]; because I have to confess I'm a bit disappointed in both of them. From time immemorial, it has been the practice of one generation to pass on to the next what it learned. But my generation has almost no guitar fathers. [[Oscar Ghiglia|Ghiglia]] and [[Alirio Díaz|Diaz]] taught and were accessible, but Bream and Williams were not. [...] They've both given immensely. But growing up, I was very saddened by their inaccessibility. I feel that my generation lost a lot because of that. In a way, we all need to rebel. The next generation will rebel against us. It's one thing I encourage when teaching. I want to give my students the strength to tell me to go to hell. 'Cause if they can tell me to go to hell, they can tell the world. Ultimately, that will help them, not to be difficult but rather to have conviction for the long struggle."<ref name="Toscone" />

==Discography==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Album !! Label 
|-
| 1981 ||  ''Eliot Fisk: Guitar Virtuoso'' ||  [[Musical Heritage Society]]
|-
| 1985 ||  ''Eliot Fisk Performs Works by Baroque Composers'' || [[MusicMasters Records|MusicMasters]]
|-
| 1986 ||  ''Eliot Fisk Performs Baroque Guitar Transcriptions'' || Musical Heritage Society
|-
| 1989 ||  ''Eliot Fisk Plays Guitar Fantasies''  || MusicMasters
|-
| 1993 ||  ''Paganini: 24 Caprices''  || MusicMasters
|-
| 1991 ||  ''Bell'Italia: Four Centuries of Italian Music'' || MusicMasters
|-
| 1993 ||  ''Latin American Guitar''  || MusicMasters
|-
| 1993 ||  ''Vivaldi Concertos & Other Works''  || MusicMasters 
|-
| 1994 ||  ''Mountain Songs: A Cycle of American Folk Music''  with Paula Robison|| MusicMasters
|-
| 1994 ||  ''Rochberg:Caprice Variations'' || MusicMasters
|-
| 1995 ||  ''Sequenza!''||  MusicMasters
|-
| 1995 ||  ''The Best of Eliot Fisk''||  MusicMasters
|-
| 1995 ||  ''Eliot Fisk: Für Eliot'' || GSP
|-
| 1996 ||  ''Segovia: Canciones Populares'' || Musical Heritage Society
|-
| 1998 ||  ''Bach: The Trio Sonatas'' || MusicMasters
|-
| 1999 ||  ''Canciones Latinas'' || Musical Heritage Society
|-
| 2000 ||  ''George Rochberg: Eden: Out of Time & Out of Space'' || [[Arabesque Records|Arabesque]]
|-
| 2001 ||  ''Concert Music for Guitar and Mandolin Orchestra, Vol. 2'' || [[Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm|MDG]]
|-
| 2001 ||  ''Bach: The Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin'' || Musical Heritage Society
|-
| 2002 ||  ''The Artistry of Eliot Fisk'' || Musical Heritage Society
|-
| 2003 ||  ''Scarlatti: 18 Sonatas''|| Vgo
|-
| 2004 ||  ''Castelnuevo-Tedesco: Guitar Concerto No. 1; Guitar Quintet; Other Works'' || Musical Heritage Society
|-
| 2005 ||  ''Françaix, Ponce, Rodrigo: Guitar Concertos'' || Essay
|-
| 2006 ||  ''Ernesto Halffter: Sinfonietta; Guitar Concerto''||  Essay
|-
| 2009 ||  ''Eliot Fisk Performs His Own Guitar Transcription of Works by Baroque Composers'' || Musical Heritage Society
|-
| 2010 ||  ''A Tribute to Andrés Segovia'' ||  Nimbus
|-
| 2010 ||  ''The Red Guitar'' ||  Wildner
|-
| 2010 ||  ''Ein kleines Requiem'' ||  Wildner
|-
| 2014 ||  ''Paco Peña & Eliot Fisk in Duo Recital'' || Nimbus
|-
| 2014 ||  ''Songs Without Words: From Bach to Bachianas''  ||  [[Albany Records|Albany]]
|-
| 2015 ||  ''Ralf Yusuf Gawlick: Kollwitz-Konnex, Song Cycle for Soprano & Guitar'' || [[Musica Omnia]]<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web|title=Eliot Fisk {{!}} Album Discography|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/eliot-fisk-mn0000164017/discography|website=AllMusic|accessdate=September 25, 2016}}</ref>
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite news |title=The Quiet Route To Winning Acclaim |first=Leslie |last=Kandell |date=May 4, 1997 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/04/nyregion/the-quiet-route-to-winning-acclaim.html }} Profile of Eliot Fisk.
*{{cite news |title=Figuring It Out |last=Fraser |first=Kennedy |date=March 23, 1992 |work=New Yorker Magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/03/30/figuring-it-out}} Profile of Eliot Fisk.

==External links==
* [http://www.eliotfisk.com/ Official site]
* {{YouTube|0ySbsr5PsNY|Fisk at TEDx Talks}}
* {{YouTube|WbeAbllBpGo|Paganini's Caprice No. 24, New York Guitar Festival}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisk, Eliot}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American classical guitarists]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:New England Conservatory faculty]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]