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.