Maria Isabel Siewers has taught guitar at the Mozarteum University since 1989. Renowned worldwide for her lyrical style, refined musicality and outstanding technique, she regularly performs at leading concert halls and festivals, teaches and serves as a juror at international competitions. Her artistic activities have taken her across Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand.
María Isabel Siewers studied in Argentina with María Luisa Anido and at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory, graduating with the highest honours. A scholarship from the Spanish government enabled her to study with Andrés Segovia in Santiago de Compostela, followed by a scholarship from the Italian government that took her to the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, where she studied with Oscar Ghiglia, Ruggero Chiesa and Alain Meunier and was awarded the Diploma di Merito. She later studied with Abel Carlevaro and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras and ensembles including the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Argentina, Virtuosi di Praga, the Zagreb Radio and Television Orchestra, the Bohemian Chamber Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Cuba and the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the chamber orchestras of Mayo and Morón in Argentina.
She is also a versatile chamber musician whose repertoire ranges from Giuliani and Paganini to Kurtág, Takemitsu, Guastavino and Piazzolla, as well as numerous world premieres of contemporary works. Her commitment to expanding the guitar repertoire has led her to commission new works and give the first performances of numerous solo and chamber compositions. Works have been dedicated to her by composers including José Luis Campana, Jorge Cardoso, John Duarte, Helmut Jasbar, Gustavo Kantor, Máximo Diego Pujol, Larry Traiger, Marios Elias Joannou and Sergio Parotti.
Her recordings reflect her particular interest in 20th-century guitar music, Latin American repertoire and chamber music featuring the guitar. They have received numerous awards, including Critic’s Choice from Gramophone and Best Record of the Year from Acoustic Guitar. In 2000, she premiered Sylvie Bodorová’s Concierto de Estío, written especially for her, with the Bohemian Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Leos Swarowsky. In 2018, she recorded Claudia Montero’s guitar concerto Luces y Sombras with the Prague City Orchestra. The album Mágica y Misteriosa, which includes this recording alongside a harp and orchestra concerto by Montero, won the 2018 Latin Grammy Award in the Classical category.