To kick off the Lauren Pickard '90 Emerging Artist Series at Cornell, Willard Straight Hall will be showcasing a rising star, Sam Shaber, who has been called "the soul of New York folk." Pretty good start.
Shaber, a 1994 Cornell graduate and 2001 John Lennon Songwriting Competition finalist, will perform her raw and edgy blend of folk-influenced pop Tuesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. in Willard Straight's Memorial Room. The show is free and open to the public.
The music series that Shaber is inaugurating was created in memory of Lauren Pickard, a 1990 Cornell graduate who died suddenly a few years ago while living and working in Paris. While at Cornell, she had been an active student employee and volunteer at Willard Straight. She loved the student union's weekly coffeehouse series and was a poet and an activist. The series was created through an endowment established by Pickard's mother, and one to two programs will be sponsored each academic year at Cornell featuring bright young artists.
Singer-songwriter Shaber seems a perfect choice to start the series rolling. Music reviewers are given to superlatives when describing her talents. One (Advocate Weekly Newspapers) said, "This up-and-coming songwriter has a way with words that cuts through to the heart and reminds you why it's beating." And another (WXPN, Philadelphia) called her simply "stark raving great."
For more information about the artist series, contact Catherine Holmes at 255-4311.
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