Lily Afshar (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. 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. She was also the first woman in the world to get a doctorate in classical guitar. 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. 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". 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". Afshar died of cancer in Tonekabon, Mazandaran, Iran, on 24 October 2023, at the age of 63.

Discography, books, and DVDs