Asturias (English /əˈstʊriəs/, /əˈstjʊəriəs/, /ɑːˈstʊərjəs/), officially the Principality of Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias [pɾinθiˈpaðo ðe asˈtuɾjas]; Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies [pɾinθiˈpaw ðasˈtuɾjes]), is an autonomous community of Spain. It is coextensive with the province of Asturias, and contains nearly all of the territory that was part of the Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. The autonomous community of Asturias is bordered by Cantabria to the east, by Castile and León to the south, by Galicia to the west, and by the Bay of Biscay to the north.

The most important cities are the communal capital, Oviedo (Uviéu), the seaport and largest city Gijón (Xixón), and the industrial town of Avilés. Other popular municipalities include Cangas de Onís (Cangues d'Onís), Cangas del Narcea, Gozón, Grado (Grau), Langreo (Llangréu), Laviana (Llaviana), Lena (Ḷḷena), Llanes, Mieres, Siero, Valdés, Vegadeo (A Veiga) and Villaviciosa (see also List of municipalities and comarcas in Asturias).

Sharon Isbin (born August 7, 1956 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota) is a widely-recorded American classical guitarist, recording artist, concert performer, and the founder of the Guitar Department at the Juilliard School.

Sharon Isbin was born in Minneapolis and began her guitar studies at age nine. She was a student of Aldo Minella, Andrés Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, Alirio Díaz and Rosalyn Tureck. She began practicing Transcendental Meditation at age 17. She received a B.A. cum laude from Yale University and a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music.

Multi-Grammy Award winner Sharon Isbin is the author of the Classical Guitar Answer Book, and is Director of guitar departments at the Aspen Music Festival and The Juilliard School. Isbin has been hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time” (Boston Magazine.) She is also the winner of Guitar Player magazine’s “Best Classical Guitarist” award, First Prize winner of the Toronto Guitar ’75 competition, a winner of the Madrid Queen Sofia, and the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition.

Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (pronounced: [anˈdɾes seˈɣoβja ˈtores]) (February 21, 1893 – June 2, 1987), known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain. He is widely considered to be one of the best known and most influential classical guitar personalities of the 20th century, having a considerable influence on later guitarists, particularly because of important guitar works that were dedicated to him by composers such as Federico Moreno Torroba.

Segovia is credited for his modern-romantic repertoire, mainly through works dedicated to him by modern composers, but he also created his own transcriptions of classical works that were originally for other instruments. He is remembered for his expressive performances: his wide palette of tone, and his distinctive (often instantly recognizable) musical personality in tone, phrasing and style.

Segovia stated that he began to play the guitar at the age of six.Angelo Gilardino, who has worked at the Fundación Andrés Segovia in Spain, noted: "Though it is not yet completely documented, it seems clear that, since his tender childhood, [Segovia] learnt playing as a flamenco guitarist. The first guitar he owned had formerly been played by Paco de Lucena who died when Segovia was five years old. Since then, Segovia was given some instruction by Agustinillo, an amateur flamenco player who was a fan of Paco de Lucena." Nevertheless, Segovia did not really play flamenco. Instead he preferred expressive art-music such as that by Federico Moreno Torroba, and revived interest in the instrument as an expressive medium for the performance of classical art-music.

John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, War Horse, Home Alone and the first three Harry Potter films. He has had a long association with director Steven Spielberg, composing the music for all but two (Duel and The Color Purple) of Spielberg's major feature films.

Other notable works by Williams include theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, the NBC Nightly News, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, and the television series Lost in Space. Williams has also composed numerous classical concerti, and he served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993; he is now the orchestra's conductor laureate.

Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, and 21 Grammy Awards. With 47 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most nominated person, after Walt Disney. John Williams was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (Spanish pronunciation: [iˈsak alˈβeniθ]) (29 May 1860, Camprodon – 18 May 1909, Cambo-les-Bains) was a Spanish pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms. However, many of his works have been transcribed by Miguel Llobet and others for guitar, and many of his pieces such as Asturias (Leyenda), Granada, Sevilla, Cadiz, Cordoba, Cataluña, and the Tango in D are amongst the most important pieces for classical guitar.

Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz (a customs official) and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz was a child prodigy who first performed at the age of four. At age seven, after apparently taking lessons from Antoine François Marmontel, he passed the entrance examination for piano at the Paris Conservatoire, but he was refused admission because he was believed to be too young.