Barbara Conrad Rises to the Occasion with Family, Friends by Her Side

Hailing from Center Point, Texas, Barbara Conrad made headlines in 1957, one year after being admitted to the University of Texas – Austin, when she was cast as Dido, Queen of Carthage, opposite a white student as Aeneas, her lover, in the school’s production of Dido and Aeneas.  Propelled to the center of a civil rights controversy that escalated to the Texas legislature and ultimately led to the University’s president seeking Conrad’s removal from the cast, the small town girl with a beautiful voice found support in the unlikeliest of places.

Harry Belafonte notably offered to underwrite Conrad’s continued study at the university of her choice, although she ultimately decided to stay on at Texas.  And later, while performing in Europe, Conrad met a woman who would serve as both a personal inspiration and partner for the duration of her stellar career.

Despite the trials she faced during her college days, Conrad went on to become a world famous mezzo-soprano who’s spent the last 43 years making beautiful music, and touching lives, with a dear friend and trusted confidant Patricia Sage, or “Patsy” as she’s affectionately called.

Politic365 recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with this dynamic duo, and what they had to say was music to our ears.  Theirs is a bond that transcends ordinary artist-accompanist relationships.  A union that’s spanned four decades, the connection between the two is something spiritual. They provide a look into the truly sublime, and an air of love and levity a time when petty rancor all to often overwhelms modern civic and political discourse.

“It really only occurred to me, maybe three or four months into our relationship, how comfortable I was with her,” Conrad says of her colleague. “There was never anything different.  In North Texas, where I’m from, she’s considered a family member.”

Conrad’s optimistic outlook has permeated her belief system since her early days at Texas. This same outlook was captured in the documentary When I Rise, a project by the Center for American History presented by PBS and underwritten by AT&T.  After the documentary was created, Jess Hay, a member of AT&T’s board, presented Randall Stevenson with the project.  Stephenson, AT&T’s President, CEO and Board Chairman, hosted a screening of When I Rise at his home in February 2010, just prior to the film’s well-received premier at South by Southwest last March.

According to Conrad, When I Rise, has “been a revelation to me,” and is a story about the people who “stand by you.”

“I was dreaming the same dreams everyone else was dreaming in that period,” says Conrad in the film. “That we really will overcome, that we really will become brothers and sisters.  I thought that was a great ambition. You knew what you were fighting for.”

The will to overcome is perhaps what most informs the compelling relationship between Conrad and her musical counterpart.

“You need someone along the way – your family, your friends – somebody like Patsy, who knows what you do because she does the same thing, who understands what you need to do, and who has a selflessness to share with you,” Conrad told Politic365. Effortlessly finishing her friend’s sentence, “we shared with each other,” Patsy said.  “What she found out, she’d share with me, what I found out, I’d share with her because we do things a little bit differently.”

Acknowledging the beauty of their differences, the pair sees music as having infinite possibilities to teach us how to become “more human,” in a world that is increasingly disconnected. Though their backgrounds, in some respects, are similar – Patsy from Bruce, Mississippi and Conrad from North Texas, and both raised in the church, with Conrad being African American and Patsy being Caucasian, their experiences in the South couldn’t be more different. And yet, music allowed them to transcend superficial differences in order to forge the tremendous partnership they share today.

Through music, they said, you’re able to get to know another person and truly understand who they are and how they function.  It’s that understanding that they believe provides important lessons to the world on how we ought to behave.

“You’ve got to care about humanity, you’ve got to care about your fellow man.  That’s number one,” Conrad says. “You’ve got to get out there and be real.  Be honest, be caring, be compassionate.  You just have to learn how to be a decent human being.  You can’t learn to be a good friend if you’re not a decent human being.”

As a fitting compliment to her friend’s remarks, and a testament to the strength of their bond, Patsy sums up our encounter with a heart-felt admonition:  “you’ve got to go for love that flows through you.”

Kristal Lauren High, Esq. is the Editor in Chief of Politic365. Prior to developing an expertise in the field of broadband for social justice through her work with the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Media & Technology Institute, Kristal was a Labor & Employment attorney with LeClair Ryan. Hailing from Miami, FL, Kristal currently resides in Washington, DC.

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One Response to Barbara Conrad Rises to the Occasion with Family, Friends by Her Side

1. RixStar says:

   11:26am September 1, 2011 at 11:26 am

   Great Piece. These are truly two Phenomenal woman.

   Reply