A decade ago, when guitarist Sharon Isbin recorded the lullaby "Cancion de Cuna," by Cuban composer Leo Brower, she wrote that she was in a state of bliss, remembering her experience of "floating down the Napo River in a dugout canoe with piranhas, electric eels, and glistening crocodiles afoot."

This week, when she plays the same piece with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, she'll hear it in a whole new light. That's because RPO Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik took the simple Brower lullaby and brushed it with orchestral colors.

This week, an audience in Eastman Theatre will hear three new Tyzik arrangements, including "Cancion de Cuna."

Tyzik first heard about Isbin from his daughter, singer Jamie Tyzik.

"She said, ‘Dad!'" Tyzik remembers. "'I heard this amazing guitarist last night. Her name is Sharon Isbin.'" Soon after, the RPO booked Isbin for a 2008 appearance in Eastman Theatre playing the famous "Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra" by Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo.

But before the 2007-08 season began, Tyzik visited Aspen, Colorado, and found himself face to face with the guitarist. They started talking about the concert in Rochester. He proposed arranging something for her to play with the RPO besides the popular, predictable "Concierto de Aranjuez."

"I thought it would be nice to do, in addition to the concerto, something new and different," Tyzik said.

Isbin liked the idea, and she asked him to pick something from her 1997 CD, "Journey to the Amazon." After listening to the solos and trios with saxophonist Paul Winter and percussionist Thiago de Mello, Tyzik selected three songs to arrange for guitar and orchestra.

The first, "Waltz No. 3" by Venezuelan composer and guitarist Antonio Lauro, is a fast tune that toys with syncopation. The second is the lullaby "Cancion de Cuna" ("Cradle Song") by Brower. On Isbin's original recording, bells chime, a wooden flute mimics an owl, and the guitarist plunks out a repetitive bass line echoed by hand drums. A melody arches up and hovers around a single pitch, tantalizing the listener with playful, syncopated rhythms. A rain stick whooshes. The melody pauses for a second and then falls back down an octave, vibrating with sweet resolution.

The third piece that captured Tyzik's attention is "Batucada" by the Uruguayan musician Isaias Savio, which portrays the spirit of the Brazilian Carnival. This is joyous stuff. A single drummer pounds out a rapidly driving rhythm, the guitarist jumps in with heavy chords, repeats the bass note, and then bubbles up an irrepressible melody. Hands slap. Chords shift. A triangle rings out. Each time the harmonies wander too far, a driving bass note pulls them back home.

"The melody is so strong in that piece," Tyzik says. "It's got such a happy feel to it, so I did use some percussion in it, and then the orchestra will accentuate certain things that Sharon does." He says he took a minimalist approach with his new arrangements.

Isbin has been studying the arrangements in her New York City apartment, and says she looks forward to hearing them with the RPO for the first time. "Jeff has captured the exotic elements," she says.

A cool, articulate, and friendly person on the phone, Isbin is a force of nature on stage. She's collaborated with a jaw-dropping array of composers, premiering more concerti than any other guitarist alive. Former Eastman faculty members Joseph Schwantner and Christopher Rouse have written for her; so have Tan Dun (of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fame), Joan Tower, and so did the late David Diamond. She received the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist. She is the first guitarist ever to record with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

When she plays with the RPO, she'll still perform Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra." You've probably heard this popular piece in movies or on commercials. It has sparked jazz versions from Miles Davis, Gil Evans, and Chick Corea. Figure skater Michelle Kwan triple-looped to her fifth World Championship with a fragment from Rodrigo's yearning middle movement.

Isbin met the piece's composer in Spain more than 30 years ago.

"He had heard about me, and he invited me to his modest apartment in Madrid," the guitarist says. Rodrigo, who was blind from childhood, told Isbin that the piece arose from traumatic circumstances. His wife had lost a baby in miscarriage. They were returning from the hospital, and in his sadness, Rodrigo flashed back to memories of their honeymoon. The work was premiered in 1940 and became an instant hit.

Like the Tyzik arrangements, it spins with orchestral colors and exotic flair. "It captures the essence of the Spanish soul," Isbin says. "It's full of celebration and yearning." 

RPO w/Sharon Isbin

Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St.

Thursday, February 7, and Saturday, February 9

8 p.m. | $20-$55 | 454-2100, rpo.org