For the Fans!

This page is still being edited.. please check back often for updates, or add your name to the email list on the right for update announcements.  Thanks and have a great day!

Fan Mail:

"If you have not heard Barb singing a lullaby in German or 
yodeling for a king, give your ears and mind a treat and see Barb in concert"
....... those are some of my favorites songs!"...Susan Galvez. Palatine, Illinois

She Looks Up To You.
Thank you so much for keeping us informed of your career. Gretchen almost cried when she heard your "Snowflake" song! Honest!! 
She just looks up to you and always has.

Kim, United States - 15 January 2006

"My husband and I have been to several of Barb's concerts. We are very impressed with her songwriting abilities and her enthusiasm for performing. Barb loves singing and playing her guitar, and it shows!"
- Joyce and Tony Tumea, Downers Grove, Illinois

"As a resident of Rolling Meadows, I certainly enjoyed listening to your 
music and enjoyed watching you perform at a Rolling Meadows Cruise Night.
I and many others also enjoyed the songs that you performed during a Rolling
Meadows 4th of July Parade. You certainly made our community parade extra
special that year! I wish you much continued success."
Linda Liles Ballantine / Exec. Dir. 
Rolling Meadows Chamber of Commerce

"Barb is very creative, extremely hardworking, willing to go far above and beyond the norm. Her transformation as an actress was stunning and a wonder to behold. She was always one of the first to offer her time and talents to help promote the show, and I endorse her heartily. Thanks, Barb! and Keep rockin'!"
Keith Fort / Director Screamfest B96 Chicago

Press Clippings.....

Barb Sorensen on tour in Switzerland at opening of Galerie Quint-Essences - Bevaix -

From the Director of Objectif Reussir: Anais Laurent
Press Release:
The opening of the new gallery, Galerie Quint-Essences, will take place at the CFF Gare de Bevaix on April 29th.   The 12-year old street newspaper, written and sold by people with handicaps or who have had problems getting back into the work force after slipping between the cracks, Objectif Réussir, has recently rented the Gare de Bevaix on the Neuchâtel ˆ St Aubin line.  They have, over the past year, totally renovated the old station with funds from the Loterie Romande, organizing it so the first floor is divided
into a class and conference room on one side, and a brand new social TV station called Télé-Objectif Réussir on the other. Both areas will serve as new training facilities to help prepare a return to the work force with new and useful skills and higher self-esteem and morale. The second floor is both office space for the newspaper team and a communal eating space.  The third floor is being transformed into a gallery space under the eaves by Anaïs Laurent, the founder of SwitzWIT, the Swiss chapter of WorldWIT, a women's internet organization with over 35,000 members.  She was a long time gallery owner in the States, and is a recent transplant from France where she was a curriculum developer for tailor-made corporate training programs (in management, cultural differences and technical language (nuclear industry) for close to 25 years.  Ms Laurent holds a M.Ed. from the Sorbonne and has recently become a coach at the IRSP in Lausanne, as well.  The Galerie Quint-Essences will offer exhibit space for artists who work with Objectif Réussir, those who have used art as therapy or artists who have yet to make a name for themselves but whom we feel soon will!  It will also attempt to include 5 major arts during the year in one way or another: namely, the Fine Arts, Artisan Arts, Street Arts, the Performing Arts and The Word (writing and readings).  

Galerie Quint-Essences, featuring 3 artists from the Objective Réussir team, will be inaugurated, along with the Objectif Réussir Center, during an all-day open-house (ribbon cutting somewhere around 4-5 pm by local officials and politicians) and continuing into the evening with a special concert by the talented Chicago songwriter Barb Sorensen, who is coming all the way to Europe to open the gallery April 29th because she feels the concept is worth supporting. She will also be offering a full-day songwriting workshop on April 30th.  The songwriting workshop will take place from 11 am (registration from 10 to 11 am) until 17:00 with a break for lunch.  After dinner, the workshop will be followed by an informal jam session with workshop participants in the Galerie Quint-Essences (or in the large class room if there isn't enough room upstairs!) to celebrate the new songs created. The cost for the workshop will be 100CHF for the day per person (meals not included).  CD's made of the newly written songs, accompanied by Barb on the guitar, for later reworking or possible promotion of thesongwriter, will be given to the participants.  

Thanks so much, Barb ˆ there aren't many out there who would be willing to follow through on such a mad scheme because they believed in the concept of using art (and music) as therapy for bringing people back into the workforce with greater skills and self-motivation coupled with a huge boost to the morale! Bravo!

For further information
please contact info@galerie-quint-essences.ch 
or visit the site http://galerie-quint-essences.ch/.

 For further information on Objectif
Réussir see objectifreussir@hotmail.com;

Sensuous and Romantic Acoustic Pop/Rock Fun! 
February 5, 2002 

Reviewer: Neal Reynolds from Chicago, IL USA 

It's well past midnight as I write this and I can't stop listening to 
acoustic pop/rock singer/songwriter Barb Kronau-Sorensen's CD 
" Walk That Mile"! 
It has that rare quality where the songs are both immediately pleasing to the ear and catchy, yet don't wear out their welcome upon repeated hearings. In fact, upon each listen the songs become even moreaesthetically pleasing, while one develops a deeper appreciation of the melodies, instrumentation, and extra layers and levels of meaning to the lyrics.

I can't decide if my favorite song is "The Sound of Your Soul" or "Because I Am" -- I like the overall sensuous, Caribbean feel and emotion of "Soul" the best, yet I can't resist the unexpected melodic variations and vocal stylings of the last two and a half lines of eachverse of the rockin' 
" Because I am". 

" Because I Am" vividly conveys the singer's delight at her formerly stick-in-the-mud lover'sunexpected romantic revival -- which has happily turned her into his fool as well.

" The Sound of Your Soul" combines the musical styles of lite jazz and Jamaican music to seta warm, loving mood... a wash of sound that magically conveys the depth of the love the singer feels for her love, as she basks in the glow and feels ever closer to, almost one with, his soul. 

The CD opens with the infectiously catchy instrumentation of the pop rock song " Walk That Mile", wherein the singer tells of the lesson she has learned, that she has to followher own path, not those others would choose for her. A familiar lesson perhaps, but oneseldom conveyed with as much feel, strength, and good 'ol fashioned rock 'n roll fun than it is here. In fact, from the moment the song begins it is clear that this entire CD is a 
fully professional quality work of art, from the highly skilled playing and singing to the crisphigh fidelity recording with absolutely no background noise -- an impeccable job all the way around. 

The fourth song on the CD, the catchy dance club style "Possessive Obsession", breakssomewhat with Sorensen's acoustic tradition by using techno-pop studio tricks and electronics-- to good effect. And it's interesting to hear a story of a woman being possessed by love for achange, as we have a tendency to think of obsessive love as a purely male phenomenon. 

Also unexpected for an independent label is how fully professional the packaging and graphicdesign of the CD is, with the inclusion of lyrics and several lovely and festive photographs ofthe singer, whose beautiful voice is matched only by her visual beauty. 

Anyone who has had the good fortune to have seen one of this very intelligentsinger/songwriter's beautiful, energetic (and downright fun!) concerts knows that she has anincredible wealth of original material -- so my only complaint is that only a few them have beenrecorded so far. Let us hope she gets another CD released soon. In the meantime, if you're
looking for a wonderful musical pickup during the winter doldrums (or any time), somethingthat is both romantic, fun, and insightful, I can't recommend a better CD than Barb Sorensen's "Walk That Mile".

YOUR LOCAL SOURCE                                                                        MARCH 16, 2000 
THE ROLLING MEADOWS REVIEW 
A PIONEER PRESS NEWSPAPER
DIVERSIONS 
NEWS AND VIEWS OF THE ARTS
Singer blends right elements for success
By Martin A. Bartels 
DIVERSIONS EDITOR NORTHWEST GROUP

For me it's all related in some way. I love the theater, and I love musical theater.  I love to play, and that's how I play. ...I can express a part of myself that I can't express in real life.

Chemistry. It's a subject that makes most creative types run for cover. It also happens to be the subject that Rolling Meadows High School graduate Barb Sorensen reads at the top of her Loyola University bachelors degree.

     "It's that old thing - get a real job in case you don't make it," she said. 
"I always hated that attitude."

     Still, there may be something chemical in the primordial soup that is Sorensen's creative self; a formula that has resulted in the creation of her own company, Emerald City Music Productions, Inc.  It is under that umbrella that Sorensen offers MUSE, a monthly half hour television program about the creative process, seen on local cable in 52 cities; "MATHAMUSIC#1," a song cassette and booklet integrating math and music education for children; and Sorensen's own career as a singer, songwriter, actress and model. 

     "Every new day is different," she said. "it's a lot of work, 
but I wouldn't trade it for a million things in the  world."

     No matter which hat she's wearing at the time, however, music is the passion closest to Sorensen's heart.  She is working on a CD set for release in Spring, and performs regularly at clubs and festivals throughout the area. 

  Sorensen first knew she wanted to be a musician in the first grade.

"My folks had given me a harmonica in kindergarten, and a toy guitar," she said.  
" I thought it was so cool running around and being a rock 'n' roller."

     The harmonica was the first of many instruments Sorensen would come to master; she began on piano lessons in the third grade, and in high school, she learned the oboe just to have a chance to perform with the symphonic band.  She later took up the saxophone to get into the school's marching band, and quickly began to develop her vocal chords.

"Most people wanted to get out of the marching band," she said. "But I really wanted to be a part of that experience of performing with a group of people with the same interests.  
It was just a joy for me.

     "It was great practice, too, because  marching with a wind instrument teaches you 
breathing techniques, and that helped me vocally."

     Acting and modeling followed naturally. 

  "For me it's all related in some way," Sorensen said. "I love the theater, and I love musical theater. I love to play, and that's how I play. 
I can express a part of myself that I can't express in real life." 

     Blessed with good looks, charisma and a healthy dose of enthusiasm, one might be surprised to learn Sorensen is mostly introspective. Yet that quality in itself lends a certain strength to her original music. 

     "It's so important to know who you are, and if you don't know, to work to find out," she said. "You have to really, in-depth, know yourself. 

     "I am a very introspective person sometimes-almost to the point where I would isolate, and that's not necessarily good for me. But I got to a point where I was OK.

     "Early in my career I would get up on stage, in high heels and a miniskirt, and I thought I was so cool. But I had this shield between me and the audience. It wasn't the real me. I was limiting myself to one, tiny little part of me." 

     Judging from her current projects, it's clear that she's gone a long way in growing beyond her limitations. And in doing so she has, perhaps, found her greatest strength. 

     "I always hated when people said that," she said referring back to the advice that led her to a degree in chemistry. "It is such an undercut to confidence.

     "Instead, they should say 'That's what you want to do? How can I help you?' 
And that's what I'm trying to do." 

     For more information on Barb Sorensen, "MATHAMUSIC #1" and MUSE, visit her Web site at www.emeraldcitymusic.com.