Article by Ed Symkus Published in the Newton TAB

Newton TAB
By Ed Symkus/Senior Staff Writer
GateHouse News Service
Wed May 30, 2007, 12:00 AM EDT

CHICAGO -
Eliot Fisk is a busy enough fellow when dividing his time between teaching on the guitar faculty of New England Conservatory in Boston, and in the Department for String Studies at University Mozarteum in Salzburg; between regular concert touring all over the world; and managing to step inside a studio for another new recording.

On top of that, he’s the founder and artistic director of (and one of the performers at) Boston GuitarFest, which was begun in 2006, and has its second edition at New England Conservatory from June 5-10.

Moving between the dining room table and the living room couch of his guitar-filled Newton home, Fisk, 52, chats about topics ranging from his own beginnings in classical music to his time spent studying with Andres Segovia, and to what’s going on at the festival. He also manages to work in a few heady sociopolitical comments, and even produces a flurry of notes on one of his prized Stephan Connor guitars. He seems somehow to be both laid back and passionate in his endeavors.
“My brother, Matthew, had Down syndrome,” says Fisk. “My mother thought that one thing we could do as a family was to sing songs to the accompaniment of a guitar. So my father went out and bought a guitar” — he pauses for effect, then adds wryly, “and a banjo.”

Fisk was 7 when he first picked up that banjo, but his interest waned after about a month. There was, however, the guitar, along with a book on how to play it.

“It was a terrible, lousy guitar,” he recalls, “but there I was, trying to teach myself. Then my mother said, ‘Would you like lessons?’ That was an exotic idea to me, an undreamt-of luxury.”
In short order, his parents were advised that classical lessons were the way to go, and since Fisk didn’t have much of an ear for pop music, there was no argument. They found a guitar teacher who had participated in summer master classes taught by Segovia, and the lessons began.
“But I also did lots of other things, lots of sports,” admits Fisk, “so I hardly ever practiced.”
When his university professor father got a sabbatical year, and the family exchanged houses with a colleague in Sweden, Fisk, not having much to do outside of going to elementary school where no one spoke English, turned to practicing.

“I had a teacher there who was good enough to keep me going,” he says, “and when I was 11, I got serious with the guitar.”

A return to the States led first to more guitar instruction, then none, but Fisk did benefit greatly from studying in master classes. Then everything changed, for the better.

“In 1974, during my sophomore year at Yale, I met Segovia,” he says of the late great classical guitarist. “I knew a lady named Rose Augustine, who had been an intimate friend of his. Through her, I was brought to Segovia, and I played for him in his hotel room. I was 19 and he was 81. I remember being beyond nervous, but there was a certain connection between us. His [recorded] music had touched me and inspired me so much. And perhaps it was normal that it would go the other way as well. So from 1974 until his death 13 years later, we were in fairly close contact.”
Fisk made his solo debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1976, at a concert sponsored by Augustine, whose company manufactured the first nylon classical guitar strings.

“I had a good turnout, and I had a wonderful review in the New York Times,” he says, smiling at the memory. “As a result of that, agents came calling, and I began my career.”
Boston GuitarFest was Fisk’s idea, and he was strongly encouraged to do it by the administration at New England Conservatory. While last year’s event featured almost exclusively local talent, this year’s matches up both local and international players in presenting the theme of “The Latin American Legacy.”

“I’m interested in cross-disciplinary, multichanneled academic and practical endeavor,” explains Fisk. “What we’re trying to do is bring in people from all different aspects of the music world — to have an immersion. In the guitar community, guitarists go to a guitar festival — five days, 10 classical guitar concerts. We don’t have that. We’ve got plenty of classical guitar going on, but we’ve also got folk groups from each of our five major countries — Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.”
Fisk frets that oftentimes players in the folk world don’t communicate with those in the classical world.
“But that’s not what’s happening here,” he says. “They’re teaching us, we’re teaching them, it’s all mixed together.”

Asked if there’s any rock ’n’ roll involved, he says, “No, but we hope to do something with that in the future. I want the festival to be a beacon for guitarists, for musicians and for people of good will.”
He also points out that while the days are packed with master classes and workshops for guitar professionals, there are two concerts a day, “where you don’t have to know anything about music.”
Among those concerts are one by himself and his longtime performance partner, flutist Paula Robison, presenting “Music of the Americas” — the first half is all Latin music, and in the second they’ll be playing “Mountain Songs,” by Newton-born composer Robert Beaser, who will be in attendance to chair the Fest’s guitar competition. Another concert will feature Fisk’s wife, Zaira Meneses, who will do a solo guitar recital of music from her native Mexico.

All of this is part of Fisk’s plan to get people to realize just how important music is in our crazy world.
“I think music is something that ought to be an integral part of American life,” he says. “I think all the things people are bemoaning all the time — the decline in values, the lack of sociability, the lack of people being able to get along — everything you can imagine is addressed by having children exposed to music. There’s manual-physical coordination, an intellectual side, tremendous historical and cultural aspects. And music these days has become totally global. Composers come from all over the place. The musics of the world are mixing. Music is our human language. We need music in the schools and we need music in daily life.”

Boston GuitarFest runs from June 5-10 at New England Conservatory in Boston. For information about specific events and concert tickets, call 617-585-1260 or visit www.bostonguitarfest.org.
Ed Symkus can be reached at esymkus@cnc.com.