National Sawdust Presents AN EVENING WITH RENEE FLEMING AND PATRICIA BARBER, 12/18

Working outside her traditional genre, world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming joins American jazz and blues artist Patricia Barber for Higher: Renée Fleming and Patricia Barber Perform the Music of Patricia Barber, on December 18. The evening offers a rare chance to see the work of these two artists in the intimate, small-capacity setting of National Sawdust, and will also include Fleming and Barber performing an assortment of holiday favorites.

Higher: Renée Fleming and Patricia Barber Perform the Music of Patricia Barber will begin at 8:30pm with a dessert and cocktail reception, followed by the performance at 9:30pm. Tickets are $500 and can be purchased online atnationalsawdust.org or by calling the box office at 646-779-8455. Proceeds from the concert will help support the programs that make National Sawdust the indispensable cultural force it is.

Of her role in National Sawdust, Ms. Fleming said, "I was delighted to join the Advisory Board of National Sawdust. An artist-led and curated venue is the kind of place where the most unexpected, adventurous music-making can happen-- a place where musical boundaries can be forgotten. Audiences can look forward to fascinating programming here, and performers can look forward to new, receptive audiences."

On her work with Barber, Ms. Fleming added, "I'm thrilled to be performing with Patricia Barber. When I was introduced to her work years ago, I was immediately struck by her uniquely sophisticated lyrics, her musical vocabulary, which, though idiomatically jazz, evokes art songs for me, and the intimacy she conveys in performance."

"When Renée sings my music, I am thrilled to discover that a musical ideal can be realized. She inspires me to reach higher," reflects Ms. Barber, of whom TIME Magazine says, "Cross Diana Krall with Susan Sontag, and you get Patricia Barber, whose throaty, come-hither vocals and coolly incisive piano are displayed to devastating effect."

About the Artists

Renée Fleming is one of the most beloved singers of our time. Recipient of the National Medal of Arts, America's highest honor for an individual artist, and the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Solo, she has sung for such distinguished occasions as the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony and the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2014, she became the first classical artist ever to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl. Known for bringing new audiences to classical music and opera, Renée has hosted a wide variety of television and radio broadcasts, and has sung not only on the world's greatest opera stages, but also with Elton John, Sting and Joan Baez. A four-time Grammy winner, her honors include Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden's Polar Prize, France's Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, and the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal.

Patricia Barber melds notes and words like no one else among today's jazz performers; with powerful fragility, delicate incision and brazen honesty. As a pianist and vocalist, she is a force to be reckoned with. As a songwriter, she is pure devastation.

In 2003, Barber was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in the category of Music Composition, a rare achievement for a jazz artist and the first given to a songwriter. She was also awarded a Townsend Fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley. Over the past few years, Barber has continued her popular Green Mill residency in Chicago when not touring internationally.

Patricia Barber & Kenny Werner: Live in Concert, captured a two-piano, sold-out concert at the 1000- seat Pick-Staiger Auditorium on DVD. But perhaps no recording sums Barber's talents as fiercely as her 2013 Concord debut, Smash. And while original lyrics have always been central to Barber's songs, more than ever, these are poems set to music, and as poetry, these pieces are sophisticated literature worthy of the New Yorker.

About National Sawdust

Located in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the non-profit National Sawdust is a dynamic home for artists and new music of all kinds. It is a place for exploration and discovery-where emerging and established artists can share their music with serious music fans and casual listeners alike. In a city teeming with venues, National Sawdust is a singular space founded with an expansive vision: to provide composers and musicians across genres with a setting in which they can flourish, and a place where they are given unprecedented support and critical resources essential to create, and then share, their work.

A diversity of world-class artists, arts organizations, and institutions are collaborating with National Sawdust's Creative and Executive Director, the composer Paola Prestini, as curators.

In addition to hosting rehearsals, performances, recordings and broadcasts in state-of-the art facilities, National Sawdust commissions new works and arranges workshops and residencies. It aims to be a resource not only for the community of musicians, but also for audiences in search of remarkable musical experiences at accessible ticket prices. For the local community, National Sawdust creates progressive public programs and educational initiatives. Other offerings include talks, publications and mentorship programs for composers and musicians, and for related fields.

Designed by Brooklyn's Bureau V, National Sawdust is constructed within the existing shell of a century-old sawdust factory, preserving the authenticity of Williamsburg's industrial past while providing a refined and intimate setting for the exploration of new music. At the venue's core is a flexible chamber hall, acoustically designed by renowned engineering firm Arup to provide the highest-quality experience of both unamplified and amplified music.

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