Lisa Hurlong is one of the very few women classical guitarists on the international concert stage to-day. Originally from the arts colony of Arden, Delaware, Lisa began her guitar studies at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia.
She left junior high school after receiving a scholarship to study with Andrés Segovia at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. She remained his scholarship student for the next five seasons.
After attending the Mannes College of Music, she furthered her musical Studies on full scholarship at the Juilliard School with Oscar Ghiglia and Suzanne Bloch. She continued her education earning a degree in psychology magna cum laude from the University of Maryland.
Here you can watch the interview Lisa gave at Canal Extremadura.
Touring extensively in the United States, Europe, South America and the Far East, she has participated in such prestigious events as the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and the Inter-American Music Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Lisa records with Klavier records.
She is known both as a soloist and chamber musician touring with members of the Lincoln Center Chamber Orchestra and principal flutist of the New York City Opera, John Wion. She also has toured with Kao Yu mei, Taiwan’s finest Pipa player. She was chosen to give the opening concert in honor of Segovia's 100th birthday in his home town of Linares,
Spain. Her late husband, Stephen Kates was a world renowned cellist who performed with the major symphonies of the world mixing with the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Barenboim and Isaac Perlman.
Her second husband was a US. Diplomat, Sydney Goldsmith who was considered one of the top authorities on Taiwan in the US. Government. He also played the Flute. Lisa and Syd toured worldwide in Asia, Europe and all the countries of South America except El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Lisa has taught guitar at the Peabody School of Music in Baltimore, the University of Nebraska, and Denison University in Ohio and the United States International University in San Diego. She currently organizes master classes in flamenco and classical guitar in Granada. When not performing,
Lisa is an equestrian and arts consultant. Fluent in both Chinese and Spanish she often serves as an international link to the guitar world. She has lived in Granada, Spain since 1988 where her house has turned into an international center for the guitar, its players and makers.
Since 2008 Lisa has been working in the Equestrian Industry in China. She was the first person to export Spanish Horses to China since the Spaniards went to China via the silk route. She has been the advisor to the Heilan Equestrian Club since its beginning.
Untill recently she has been the biggest exporter of horses from the Americas and Europe to China. She has helped hire blacksmiths, trainers, and veterinarians and procure all the products necessary for the operation of the club she has also been the principle translator and negotiator of the contracts for hiring... Many of the Chinese students were flown to Europe and Lisa oversaw their education and training in both Spain and Holland. The club now operates successfully on its own and only calls her in when they have a major problem they are not able to solve themselves or to start a new project. Lisa grew up in the Pennsylvania- Delaware hunt country on the east coast of the United States. She has been riding since she was four years old. . Her Manual “Characteristics of the Spanish Horse” is used to train the FEI judges in the United States. She studied Horse Husbandry at the University of Maryland, and at both Piece and Moorpark Colleges in California.
In Spain she has been the personal representative of Spain foremost Spanish Horse judge, Juan Llamas and has traveled worldwide translating for him and promoting the purebred Spanish Horse. She collaborates with most of the international Spanish Horse associations worldwide from Australian to England to the United States. .
Lisa has united the art of music and horses as well as her international experience into a dynamic force promoting the beauty of the Spanish horse and the Spanish guitar.
