How do you train your ears?

The guitarist was Sharon Isbin. She said the name of her guitar, I didn't get a clear understanding of the name, but it started with 'H' and might have been Holzgruber. I did a search and its tonal description matched my recall. There is a picture of her on the CAMI site with (I believe from visual recall) this guitar - perhaps you can pin down its identity. It was acquired (if not made) in 2007 and has a cedar board, rosewood sides and back which was either unstained rosewood or had inlay. I suspect the former but that is just AWAG, I saw it from 20 ft away. A gorgeous piece of work! It has a very rich tone which she attributes to the 1st string.

IMHO, the pairing of her and her guitar was just OUTSTANDING!!!! I'm going to get some of her recordings, she has a faily large discography. Especially her Rodrigo which she played for us. :-)

I've been to Sharon's concert twice. She is a goddess in the classical guitar world. She plays a Thomas Humphrey Millennium guitar. Humphrey is one of most renowned and innovative guitar makers in US. He passed away a year ago.
Sharon's Rodrigo guitar concerto is her signature piece.
If you like Sharon, check out her "Journey to Amazon," if you don't have it. ;-)

Good advice on training ears.

Ihcho - I am a professional orchestral musician who also has a music theory degree. I am trained to train people's ears, and have helped many in the past, and would be happy to give you some advice if you want to send me a private email. There is some good advice in the above posts, but if you wish, I can direct you to some books that will help you train your ears to enjoy music more.

One book I can highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about listening in general is one called "What To Listen For In Music," by the famous composer Aaron Copland. It is well written and easy to follow without being dumbed down.

Another piece of advice when attending orchestral concerts, and this goes for pretty much any concert hall - do not sit TOO close to the front. Sound travels up and out, so sit more towards the back than the front, though not under an overhang if you are on the floor. In many halls, some of the best seats are in the front section of the second or third tier of the hall, depending on how many tiers there are (and assuming there is not a "roof" over your head from the next tier up). There is often relatively better sound in the so-called nosebleed seats than in many other areas, again depending on design, especially in not-so-great halls. Every hall is different, of course.

Learsfool, care to enlighten the rest of us on which books might be worthwhile reading?

I think there are two separate things "knowledge of sonics and sound" and "music appreciation". They are different. For example The Alton Everest book will allow you to train your ears to recognize what is wrong with a system. It teaches you about audio bands and what a boost, suppression, notch cut or various forms of distortion sound like. This is fairly easily defined but tricky to teach yourself to recognize things with a high degree of accuracy/conviction.

I suspect Learsfool has in mind some books on music: How it is constructed and what are the typical forms and techniques used. This is a massive subject - like language it really has no boundaries and is constantly evolving. It is art