Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell |
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Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell is a native of New York City who has lived in Washington, DC since 1968. She is the only child of Marcella Robinson Barnwell, a registered nurse, and Irving Frederick Barnwell a classical violinist who shared his knowledge of the violin with her for 15 year, beginning at the age of 21/2. Barnwell majored in music through High School and then earned the Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Speech Pathology (SUNY, Geneseo, 1967, 1968), Doctor of Philosophy in Speech Pathology (University of Pittsburgh, 1975), and Master of Science in Public Health (Howard University, 1981). In 1998, Dr. Barnwell was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by her alma mater, SUNY Geneseo.
In 1977, Barnwell founded the All Souls Jubilee Singers and in 1979 she was invited to join the world renowned a cappella ensemble, Sweet Honey In The Rock ®. In her first year as a singer in the ensemble, Barnwell (who had trained as a Sign Language interpreter) facilitated the practice of including a Sign Language interpreter as part of the ensemble.
Dr. Barnwell appears as a singer (and occasionally as an instrumentalist) on more than thirty recordings with Sweet Honey In The Rock, and other artists. In addition, she is highly sought after as a master teacher and choral clinician in African American cultural performance. Her workshop “Building a Vocal Community®: Singing in the African American Tradition” has been conducted all over the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Singapore and Australia, making her work in the field a significant source of inspiration and learning for both singers and non-singers, and a model of exceptional pedagogy for educators, and cultural activists and historians. The workshop has been documented in an instructional (boxed) set of 4 CDs and a manual produced by Homespun Tapes, Woodstock, NY.
Dr. Barnwell has been a commissioned composer on numerous choral, film, video, dance and theatrical projects including Sesame Street, Dance Alloy of Pittsburgh, David Rousseve’s Reality Dance Company, The New Spirituals Project, GALA Festival Choruses, MUSE: Cincinnati’s Women’s Chorus, The Steel Festival: Art of an Industry (Bethlehem, PA). In 1996 she was awarded the Bessie Award for her score Safe House: Still Looking, commissioned by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. The year 2001 Suite Death, a setting of four poems by Langston Hughes for baritone, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Plymouth Music Series premiered in Minneapolis, MN. In Feb. 2003, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, DC premiered Truth Pressed to Earth Shall Rise, a choral work, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Barnwell has recently been commissioned by the Waterbury Symphony (in Connecticut) to compose the music for Marilyn Nelson’s epic poem Fortune’s Bones: The Manumission Requiem for a premiere performance in 2009. Her music, published by Barnwell’s Notes, Inc. and distributed by The Musical Source, Washington, DC has been performed and recorded by numerous choral ensembles and individual artists as well as Sweet Honey In The Rock.
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