Celebrated Pianist Patricia Barber to Perform in Three Oaks in Fundraiser Concert
Submitted by Donna Mitchell, School of American Music Executive Director
In her first-ever performance in Harbor Country, renowned composer, singer, and pianist Patricia Barber will kick off Art Attack 2023 with a fundraiser for the School of American Music at The Acorn Theater in Three Oaks, Michigan.
Barber will perform an exclusive set of original music and classic jazz for an audience limited to 200 guests. The event will begin at 7pm (EST) on Friday, April 28, 2023, at the Acorn Theatre, 107 Generations Dr., Three Oaks. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased on the Acorn’s website https://www.acornlive.org/.
Renowned songwriter, Barber infuses harmonic sophistication and incisive lyrics with distinctive style and passion. She won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003, and has released 13 albums, including the 2021 recording Clique, a collection of covers and standards released by Impex Records. According to NPR arts and culture reporter Susan Stamberg, who wrote the album’s liner notes, Barber, “…respects traditions, bends them to make her own points, and freshens them into something new.” Tunes include classics by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stevie Wonder, Lee Hazlewood, Lerner & Loewe and Thelonious Monk.
Over the course of her career Barber has played jazz clubs and concert halls, produced records in Chicago and New York, collaborated with opera legend Renee Fleming and acclaimed composer Shulamit Ran, and concertized while teaching jazz singing as a Townsend Resident Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019.
Among her endeavors, Barber is a firm supporter of music education. “I believe music schools are a force for good in villages, cities, and countries that have them,” she said. “Music brings joy and social cohesion. Learning music can inspire passion, purpose, and appreciation for the larger musical institutions that are so important to culture.”
“I’m sure that anybody who lives in Three Oaks can see the positive influence the School of American Music brings to the community,” Barber said. “I am thrilled to do what I can to support it.” The concert is a benefit for the restricted Future Fund endowment for the School of American Music. Board President Garth Taylor said: “The restricted purpose of the fund is to compensate a future executive management when the volunteers who
currently do the job are no longer in a position to do so. There could not be a better, or more responsible investment to make to guarantee the future of low-cost music education in our area.”
The School of American Music provides education, performance, and audience opportunities in music and the related arts in the Southwest Michigan area. SAM is a 501(c)(3) organization; all contributions are tax-deductible and matched by the Michiana Arts Foundation. Donations can be made on SAM’s website https://schoolofamericanmusic.com/.
About School of American Music: The School of American Music was founded by D. Garth Taylor to serve as a music resource in Michiana. Currently serving as President of SAM, Taylor has been joined over the years by Executive Director, Donna M. Mitchell and a full Board of Directors. Their mission is to provide education, performance, and audience opportunities in music and the related arts in the Southwest Michigan area.
The Buchanan Chronicle 