Patricia Baxter Wright

Cabaret Singer, Pianist, and Visual Artist

Patricia Baxter Wright earned a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She began her music studies at the age of 11 and is a classically trained cabaret singer and pianist. Piano instructors included Mrs. Woods of the Wilmington School of Music with whom she listened to piano rolls of Paderewski’s performances. She also studied with Sophia Melvin of Temple University and Madame Martha Massena of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

In voice she worked with Martin Rich of The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Additionally, while in Germany, she had the great privilege of studying with Erika Seeger-Müller who had performed major operatic roles with Richard Strauss as the conductor. Ms. Wright also performed with the Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner William Bolcom along with his wife Joan Morris while earning her doctorate in voice and vocal pedagogy at The University of Colorado-Boulder. Singing Bolcom’s cabaret songs began Ms. Wright’s fascination with the history of cabaret and led to her many cabaret performances. Later she recorded her CD Cabaret Sauvignon with the brilliant composer and pianist John Kuzma. Then her DVD Cabaret au jus with the stellar pianist Susan Sherrod.

Ms. Wright has performed to acclaim in major cities of the US and in France and Germany. Her repertoire includes opera, lieder and chanson, oratorio, musicals, cabaret, spirituals and jazz. She has performed with greats such as Lambert Orkis, jazz saxophonist Keith Oxman, and Mark Deller of The Deller Consort. She also appeared under Ed Baierlein’s direction at Germinal Stage Denver in the Ogden Nash musical revue Progress May Have Been All Right Once But It Went On Too Long.

As a visual artist Ms. Wright began with watercolor but she also works in acrylics, mixed media, encaustics and collage. Color and texture are primary delights of exploration as she aspires to the creation of beauty and meaning in her work. She seeks to listen to her eye, ear and heart with the desire of discovering and honoring her unique vision. Whether painting abstract or representational art. She is a romantic in the sense that she believes that beauty and creativity can bring healing to the world. And she learns with each new canvas that she is always a student.

Teachers have included Jordan Wolfson of Denver’s Art Students League, Pomona Hallenbeck at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, as well as the renowned Tadashi Hayakawa. She shares a studio in Aurora, CO, with the artist Phyllis Rider and the jeweler Kim Harrell.