Join us for a weekend filled with music!  A master teacher, author, composer and longtime member of  Sweet Honey in the Rock, Barnwell leads us  in musical forms such as chants, spirituals, ring shouts, hymns, gospel songs, and songs of the Civil Rights Movement.

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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 years, 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.

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For over a decade, Dr. Barnwell was a professor at the College of Dentistry at Howard University and after completing her degree in Public Health, she went on to administer public health programs at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center and at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC and as a volunteer, assisted  community based organizations in the use of computer technology. 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.