Anne Sweeten

After nearly 20 years of enamoring audiences on the Concert stage and on Radio/Internet Airwaves, Ann Sweeten’s  signature style is recognized world-wide and now her new album, Where Butterflies Dance is without question her most ambitious and successful to date.  Will Ackerman, co-producer, had this to say: There is no greater compliment I can give any musician than to say they have their own artistic voice.  They are uniquely themselves and bring something utterly their own to the world.  Ann Sweeten is one of those rare musicians.  The grace one associates with Ann’s performance has been matched by what I believe are the best melodies of her career.  At a time when many artists might choose to coast on their notoriety, Ann  has raised the bar considerably and we, the listeners, are the beneficiaries of her ambition and skill.   Really brilliant.

One of the most decorated pianists of the past decade with 7 previous albums all ranking in the Top 5 NAR and ZMR Radio Reports, Sweeten is also one of the most played modern instrumentalists in North America. A truly well-rounded individual and artist, Ms. Sweeten is a staunch environmentalist, animal activist and vegetarian. In addition to her Concert and Recording career, she is also a professional actress/singer/dancer with Actor’s Equity Association.  Ann Sweeten is herself a Breast Cancer survivor twice over and is involved with the Arts in Healthcare Initiative.

Sweeten’s journey in the performing arts began at the age of 6 in both Music and Ballet in Westfield, NJ.  She received a Hammond Organ for Christmas that year after showing interest in keyboards and was soon to master it, though the first year she had to stand to reach the pedals.  For her ninth Christmas, she received a Baldwin Piano and soon began intensive study with Russian-born Concert Pianist David Sokoloff.  Under his tutelage, she learned to play the music of the great masters.  She sites Sokoloff as her greatest mentor, whose influence in developing her technique and in encouraging her musicality, was paramount.  All during these years, Sweeten was also dancing the classic ballets (Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Sleeping Beauty) with a Regional Ballet Company in NJ.  A Dean’s list scholar throughout academia, Sweeten earned a B.A. from Smith College in foreign languages, graduating Cum Laude, and continued study in Paris and later at the Boston Conservatory.

Sweeten did a brief two year stint as Female Front and lyricist to the Pop/Rock Band : FALLOUT.  Then she began appearing on Cruise Ships, in Cabaret Clubs and Resorts playing and singing a wide range of material including Jazz, Pop, Folk, New  Age and Broadway music.  Sweeten began composing around 1989 in the midst of her Musical Theatre Career, starring in such roles as Aldonza (Man of La Mancha) Sister Amnesia (Nunsense) Miss Mona (Best Little Whorehouse in  Texas) and Velma Kelly (Chicago).  When she started introducing her own original material to her set lists, the response was overwhelming.  In 1997, Sweeten released her debut album, “Prism”.  By  Sweeten’s  third album, “Reflections” (2000), her music was selling on listening stations at major record chains (Borders Books & Music, Sam Goody’s) weekly by the hundreds.  Fans began to write in depth of the effect of Sweeten’s  music on their lives, speaking of the music as hope, as giving the power of healing or a way of finding peace.  She has stated  “the fact that my music touches people so strongly is the greatest reward I receive from my music and I have been moved to tears by the personal stories people have shared with me.”  Having written over 100 musical scores to date, Sweeten is also author to all of her albums’ liner notes and is a poet in her own right. In 2008, Steinway and Sons welcomed Sweeten into its prestigious international roster of Steinway Artists, touting her, a true Renaissance woman.