Sharon Abreu is a singer whose repertoire ranges from opera to Broadway to pop to folk. “Hyperactivity has been my greatest asset,” she says. Inspired by singers from Beverly Sills to Pete Seeger, she sings in several languages, which come together in the universal language of the heart. She is inspired by songwriters from Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen to Holly Near and Dar Williams.

Born into a musical family, Sharon was singing harmony before she knew the word. She was inspired by the great Broadway musicals. She credits her mother for the piano lessons and a decent public school music program for the violin lessons, which helped a shy girl to connect with other people. She started writing songs at 14, and used a peace song she’d written as an audition piece for the Manhattan School of Music pre-college program into which she was accepted at age 17.

Sharon sang in her high school and college choruses and small vocal ensembles, which gave her the confidence to pursue a career as a singer. Her professional singing career began in Christmas caroling groups and church choirs. She was a soloist in the Puccini Heroine’s lecture series at Marymount Manhattan College in New York and was selected to participate in a master class with famed Metropolitan Opera soprano Licia Albanese, who said of Sharon’s performance of the aria O mio babbino caro, “That’s Puccini!” Sharon’s love of comic opera led her to perform the roles of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Papagena in The Magic Flute. For three years she performed with Opera Enterprise, a professional children’s opera company. She sang in the jazz-pop trio InAccord, the a cappella Etan Quartet, and as “Waffle from Belgium” in the comic-improv vocal quintet Whatever4 at Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York, the New York Buskers Fare and the Streets Ahead Festival in Manchester, England. She has recorded background vocals and fiddle for several folksingers including Charlie King, Ray Korona, Heather Lev, and Ron Renninger.

Sharon has been privileged to perform in concert with legendary folksinger Pete Seeger and to sing for many peace and environmental events, along with her life and music partner Michael Hurwicz. She feels blessed to be able to share her voice and music, to connect and sometimes to be able to shift people’s views and energy through music, to move something that might otherwise remain stuck or unnoticed. Sharon says, “Pete Seeger articulated in words and music a fully-restored Hudson River and inspired people to help make it happen. Thought creates reality. Music is a way to envision and bring about a healed world.”

Inspired by the work of Pete Seeger and New York’s Hudson River Sloop Clearwater environmental group, Sharon uses her strong voice and songwriting skills for environmental education. She believes that inspiring, energizing and empowering people through music and song — communicating directly with the heart – is a fun and effective way to unite people and nurture love and caring for the natural environment.

Highlights

Sharon has performed her original compositions for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, UN World Environment Day in San Francisco and the COP11 UN Climate Conference in Montreal. She sang with Michael Hurwicz for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa.

There is nothing Sharon loves more than singing for and with people, and writing songs that grab people by the heart, moving them to laugh, cry, think, or all three. Whether singing a Yiddish folk song, a comic opera by Mozart, or an original song about climate change, she is in her bliss. Deeply connected to the music of the 1960s, she feels a responsibility to that revolutionary, hopeful, heart-wrenching decade. The music of the 60s followed her into the 2000s, where peace songs are again desperately needed. Music and humor keep her afloat. She teaches singing, believing that if more people felt comfortable with their voices we’d have a far more peaceful world.

Sharon met Michael Hurwicz at the People’s Voice coffeehouse in Greenwich Village. Sharon started backing Michael up on vocals, fiddle, guitar and making funny faces, and Michael started backing Sharon up on vocals, guitar, harmonica and carrying her stuff around. Later on he added bass fiddle so that she would have to carry her own stuff around. Greenwich Village musical legend Jake Jacobs (Jake and the Family Jewels) compared the blend of their voices to Ian & Sylvia. Their energetic “new roots” music blends folk and folk rock in original tunes and novel adaptations of their favorite songs. They bring good humor, rich harmonies, and powerful music to their performances, seasoned with environmental passion and insight.

In 1998, Sharon and Michael co-wrote and produced Turn the World Upside Down, an interactive musical show about conservation and keeping the water clean, which they performed at the New York Aquarium with Emmy winner Bill Nye The Science Guy, on Manhattan and Brooklyn cable television, and in the New York City public schools through the Brooklyn Arts Council.

In 2002, they started Irthlingz Arts-Based Environmental Education (www.irthlingz.org) and co-wrote and produced The Great Climate Caper, a musical about climate change, which evolved into their Penguins on Thin Ice climate change musical revue.

In 2002, Sharon and Michael created “Seeking Sanctuary,” a music CD, with a grant from The Celebration Foundation. Shron sang, played guitar, violin and keyboards, and was also associate producer, with James Lee Stanley as producer.  Michael sang on many of the tracks and contributed two original songs: Wild, Wild River and Empty Pockets.

In 2003, in a creative collaboration with Michael Hurwicz, she co-produced “Keeping the Water Clean,” an animated public service announcement with an original musical jingle.

In May 2007, Penguins on Thin Ice was performed by high school students at the United Nations for a packed auditorium of delegates to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (www.PenguinsOnThinIce.com). Sharon produced, directed, and was the main writer, main composer, and co-musical director. Funded with grants from the Raynier Foundation and The Celebration Foundation.

In 2008, for “The Cheap Energy Store,” a YouTube video, she co-produced with Michael Hurwicz, and played the part of the Shop Ghoul.

Sharon was producer/director/composer for Climate the Change Sing-Along in the park in Eastsound in 2008.

Sharon co-produced (with Michael) the “Clean Coal – Savior of Mankind” YouTube video with Michael Hurwicz in 2009.

Sharon was producer/director/composer for the “350.org Action” YouTube Video of action in Eastsound in 2009.

“Where Is Tomorrow’s Farmer?” is a ten-minute video created with a grant from the Raynier Foundation. It is a documentary about getting young people into sustainable agriculture. Written/directed by Michael Hurwicz. Sharon produced, handled financial and administrative details, contributed to editing decisions, and helped with promotion. (2009)

Sharon’s created her one-woman show focusing on climate change, The Climate Monologues, in 2010.  In March 2011, she received the “Spirit of Nature, Ecology & Society” Environmental Justice Award from the Professional Staff Congress Union at City University of New York for her presentation of The Climate Monologues.

Sharon and Michael were featured in Mark Pedelty’s books Ecomusicology (2012) and A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Environmentalist Musicians in the Pacific Northwest (2016), in which he devoted a whole chapter to Irthlingz and The Climate Monologues.

In 2013, Sharon presented “Sun, Moon, Stars & Rainbows: Classical songs and arias to delight and inspire,” at the Orcas Center.

In 2014, Sharon wrote and recorded “The Left Hand of God,” based on Rabbi Michael Lerner’s book of the same name.

In 2015, Irthlingz provided music for Kwiaht‘s annual “Celebrate Indian Island” event.  They also appeared on Folk & Acoustic Music with Michael Stock, 91.3 FM WLRN, Miami, FL, singing “Something Left Worth Fighting For”.

In 2016, The Climate Monologues was performed at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival in Los Angeles and the United Solo Theater Festival in New York City.  Sharon and Michael also provided music for events on San Juan Island and in Bellingham, WA for The Golden Rule Project, an environmental and peace project of Veterans for Peace

Sharon and Michael released their “Songs to Save the Salish Sea” CD in 2017 to raise awareness about the local communities’ efforts to prevent coal, oil and gas projects in the Salish Sea.  Also in 2017, they provided music for the BlueGreen Alliance “Clean and Fair Economy Summit” in Olympia, Washington, and the “War and the Environment” conference in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the “World Beyond War” group.

In 2018, they organized and led the Orcas Peace Chorus.

In 2019, they performed for Transition Lopez meeting.

In 2020, Sharon and Michael provided music for a series of Our Revolution WA State online meetings, including for example Sharon’s song “End the Corruption“.

Sharon and Michael perform at coffeehouses, churches, festivals and events across the U.S.

Some Other Notables…

• The Citizens Awareness Network (CAN), People’s Action for Clean Energy (P.A.C.E.), CT
• March for Peaceful Energy, Wash., D.C.
• National Jobs for All Coalition, Human Rights Day at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, and Earth Day, NYC
• Plight of the Redwoods Campaign and Redwood-Sequoia Congress, Northern CA
• Dallas Peace Center with folksinger Charlie King, Dallas, TX
• Climate Change & the West and Climate Change & Coal Plants Conferences, Boulder, CO
• Navigating Our Future Conference, Friday Harbor, WA
• UN World Environment Day, San Francisco, CA
• COP11 UN Climate Meeting, Montreal, Canada
• Peace rallies in Seattle and San Francisco
• Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater Festival, Asbury Park, NJ
• Northwest Folk Life Festival, Seattle, WA
• People for Puget Sound Storming the Sound environmental educators’ workshops, Seattle, WA
• September 11 Memorial Concert, Cambridge, MA
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Concert, Boston, MA
• All-Florida Gathering of Unitarian Universalists, Oviedo, FL

Television Appearances:

• With Charlie King on Good DAY Dallas on the Fox television network
• Joel Landy’s national award-winning Songs of Freedom cable television show in New York City
• Earth Matters cable television show in Connecticut

Original songs played on numerous radio stations across the country, including:

• WFUV (Woody’s Children), WJFF (Ballads & Banjos), WUSB (Destinies), and WBAI (Wakeup Call & Nuff Said) – NY
• WFDU (Traditions) – NJ
• WRUW – OH
• WGLT (Acousticity) – IL
• KUNI (Live from Studio One) – IA
• KMUD (Women on Wednesday) – Northern CA
• KSVR (Speak Up! Speak Out!) – WA
• WLRN (Folk and Acoustic Music) – FL

For Bookings Contact:
Sharon Abreu
sharmuse(at)gmail.com
P.O. Box 969
Eastsound, WA 98245
Phone: 360-376-5773 Cell: 917-626-5781