:Lily Afshar

{{Short description|Iranian-American classical guitarist (1960–2023)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Lily Afshar

| image = Lily Afshar.jpg

| caption =

| image_size =

| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist

| birth_date = {{birth date|1960|03|09|df=y}}{{cite book |last1=Summerfield |first1=Maurice J. |title=The Classical Guitar: Its Evolution, Players and Personalities Since 1800 |date=1 January 2003 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-1-4768-5165-5 |page=28 |language=en}}

| birth_place = Tehran, Iran

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|10|24|1960|03|09|df=y}}

| death_place = Tonekabon, Mazandaran, Iran

| genre = Contemporary classical

| instrument = Classical guitar

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Musician
professor}}

| label = {{flatlist|

}}

Lily Afshar ({{langx|fa|لیلی افشار}}; 9 March 1960 – 24 October 2023) was an Iranian-American classical guitarist.

Life and career

Afshar moved to the United States in 1977, to study at the Boston Conservatory of Music, where she got a bachelor's and a master's degree in guitar.{{cite news |title=Classical guitarist Ashfar will perform at library |work=The Daily Gazette |date=4 May 1987 |page=10}} In 1989, she got a doctorate from the Florida State University with a thesis on 24 Caprichos de Goya by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco; in 1994 she was the first musician to record the Castelnuovo-Tedesco's guitar composition.{{cite book |last1=Westby |first1=James |title=Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Una vita di musica: un libro di ricordi |date=2005 |publisher=Cadmo |isbn=978-88-7923-195-4 |page=577 |language=it}} She was also the first woman in the world to get a doctorate in classical guitar.{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Chris |title=Lily Afshar: Classical guitarist Lily Afshar is the best at what she does |url=https://memphismagazine.com/culture/lily-afshar/ |access-date=26 October 2023 |work=Memphis magazine |date=5 November 2014 |language=en-us}}{{cite news |title=Lily Afshar on Playing and Teaching Classical Guitar in Her Native Iran |url=https://classicalguitarmagazine.com/lily-afshar-on-playing-and-teaching-classical-guitar-in-her-native-iran/ |access-date=26 October 2023 |work=Classical Guitar |date=22 March 2016}}

Afshar won the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female Classical Guitarist, as well as three annual "Premier Guitarist" awards by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Afshar was awarded the 2008 Distinguished Teaching Award, the 2000 Eminent Faculty Award, and the 1996 Distinguished Research Award at The University of Memphis.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mnguitar.org/newsletter/2008-jan-feb.pdf |title=Minnesota Guitar Society Newsletter |date=January–February 2008|access-date=2010-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184428/http://www.mnguitar.org/newsletter/2008-jan-feb.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=dead }} Afshar was chosen as "Artistic Ambassador" for the United States Information Agency to Africa, and was among twelve guitarists selected to play for Andrés Segovia in his master classes held at the University of Southern California.

About her style, the magazine Global Rhythm wrote that she combined "the delicate yet powerful sound of the classical guitar with the melodic ornamentation of Persian and Baroque music".{{cite journal |title=Spotlight |journal=Global Rhythm |date=2006 |volume=15 |issue=8 |page=6 |publisher=Global Rhythm LLC |language=en}} While reviewing one concert of her, the Washington Post critic Joan Reinthaler noted that "Afshar has the delicate touch and the keen concentration that characterizes the best guitarists, and she also has the musical sense and restraint that characterizes only a few".{{cite news |last1=Reinthaler |first1=Joan |title=Lily Afshar |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/01/13/lily-afshar/9ec386f8-1ad3-41f2-8840-df0ec090226a/ |access-date=26 October 2023 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=13 January 1997}}

Afshar died of cancer in Tonekabon, Mazandaran, Iran, on 24 October 2023, at the age of 63.{{cite news |last1=S.S. |title=Iranian professor of guitar Lily Afshar passes away at 63 |url=https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/490573/Iranian-professor-of-guitar-Lily-Afshar-passes-away-at-63 |access-date=26 October 2023 |work=Tehran Times |date=25 October 2023 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Lily Afshar, Renowned Iranian Guitar Virtuoso Dies, Aged 63 |url=https://ifpnews.com/lily-afshar-iranian-guitar-virtuoso-dies-63/ |access-date=26 October 2023 |work=Iran Front Page |date=25 October 2023}}

Discography, books, and DVDs

Caprichos de Goya, Op. 195 – CD, Summit Records (1994)
A Jug of Wine and Thou – CD, Summit Records (1999)
Possession – CD, Archer Records (2002)
Hemispheres – CD, Archer Records (2006)
Virtuoso Guitar – DVD, Mel Bay (2008)
One Thousand and One Nights – CD, Kargah-e Musiqi (2013)
Musica da Camera – CD, Archer Records (2013)
Bach on Fire- CD, Archer Records (2014)
Classical Guitar Secrets Vol. 1 – DVD, Guitar Control (2011)
Classical Guitar Secrets Vol. 2 – DVD, Guitar Control (2011)
Five Popular Persian Ballads – Mel Bay (2000)
Essential Bach for Guitar Arranged by Lily Afshar – Mel Bay (2012)
Classical Guitar Collection Vol. 1 – DVD, Guitar Control (2016)
Classical Guitar Collection Vol. 2 – DVD, Guitar Control (2016)
Scarlatti and Weiss for Guitar – arranged for guitar by Lily Afshar, Mel Bay (2016)
Spanish Composers for Classical Guitar – arranged for guitar by Lily Afshar, Mel Bay (2016)
Valses Poeticos by Enrique Granados – arranged for guitar by Lily Afshar, Mel Bay (2016)

References

External links

{{Official website|http://www.lilyafshar.com/}}
{{Discogs artist}}
[http://www.archer-records.com/?page=artist.asp&sub=y&aid=4 Archer Records biography]

Category:1960 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:20th-century American women guitarists

Category:20th-century American guitarists

Category:American classical guitarists

Category:American people of Azerbaijani descent

Category:Boston Conservatory at Berklee alumni

Category:Florida State University alumni

Category:Iranian classical guitarists

Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States

Category:People from Tehran

Category:University of Memphis faculty