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Barbara Rosen


Barbara Jean Rosen (born 29 November 1953) is an American author, music and arts programs administrator, curator, and non-profit events fund raiser.

She was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and has lived in Europe and the United States while writing books, working in both the corporate and governmental sectors, doing public and private sector fund-raising as well as marketing the works of certain Russian artists.

Education and Early Years in Europe
Raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Barbara Rosen completed her undergraduate studies at McGill University, Montreal Canada, and received a Masters in Education from Harvard University. Her mother (Gloria Rosen née Shiner) was also an educator, her father (Norman Rosen) was a physician (otolaryngologist). The broader family included several musicians, including pianists and violinists, and through personal contacts, in 1978 Barbara met harpsichord maker and future co-author Wolfgang Zuckermann, social activist and critic, author of The Modern Harpsichord (ISBN 0-8079-0165-2, October House), and eventually Barbara worked with him in England, France, Italy and Spain to promote the innovative Zuckermann harpsichord kit.

Books
The Mews of London: A Guide to the Hidden Byways of London's Past. In 1980, while Barbara Rosen and Wolfgang Zuckermann were riding on the top deck of a London bus, past quiet lanes and alleys of former horse stables transformed into town homes referred to as "mews," Barbara suggested that the pair should write a book on such hidden jewels of London architecture. Hence was born the idea for The Mews of London: A Guide to the Hidden Byways of London's Past (Webb & Bower, London, 1982, ISBN 0-03-062419-3), co-authored with Mr. Zuckermann, and published by the same company that had published the best-selling The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. The book was painstakingly researched and presented rare photographs as well as analysis that blended economic, social and architectural history. It was very favorably reviewed on the BBC radio, where the authors were also interviewed, and received an award from the London Tourist Board.

Arriaga, the Forgotten Genius: the Short Life of a Basque Composer. A few years later, while still living in London, Barbara recounts that she heard a riveting string orchestra composition, which turned out to be by the precocious 19th C. Spanish musical prodigy Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, This led her to research the composer, and she quickly found that information on him was somewhat scarce. The eventual result was a book entitled Arriaga, the Forgotten Genius: the Short Life of a Basque Composer (University of Nevada Press, Reno, June 1989, ISBN 978-1877802010). Born on the 27th of January 1806, exactly 50 years after the death of Mozart, Arriaga was given the Spanish equivalent of Mozart's name, and indeed turned out to be a musical prodigy. Published by the University of Nevada Press, Reno (which has a noted Basque studies program), Arriaga, the Forgotten Genius is a short book, but still today the only English language biography of the remarkably gifted composer of Basque heritage. It was favorably reviewed by The Washington Post music critic Joe McLellan in a broadcast on WETA-FM, July 7, 1989, and the Embassy of Spain held a special reception to honor the publication of the book at Washington DC's Meridian House on November 16, 1989. As an interesting note, the author herself had invited four musicians from The National Symphony Orchestra to perform Arriaga compositions at the event, and thus was born "The National String Quartet" which went on to perform for many years.

The British Council: Arts Administration, Curating, and Fundraising
On her return to the United States from Europe, Barbara Rosen was appointed by the British Council (cultural arm of the British Embassy) in Washington DC to the position of Cultural Affairs Officer, where she worked directly for the then Cultural Attache, Gordon Tindale. This position involved projects by the British Council to help raise the profile of British arts and culture in the U.S. through a variety of means, including performing arts tours from the smallest to the largest scale, shows of paintings, musical concerts and other significant arts venues, from installation art by individual artists, to The Royal Ballet Company. Sample exhibits supported & arranged by the British Council were:
 * New World Explorers, (9/1992). Images and materials about the Americas, from British collections)
 * Sir Thomas Lawrence Exhibition. (10/1992) Forty paintings and 20 drawings selected by Dr. Kenneth Garlick, Dir. Emeritus, Ashmolean Museum.
 * The Royal Philharmonic (11/1992), at the John F. Kennedy Center, a program of Sibelius and Walton.
 * English Arcadia (11/1991), Cache of drawings, engravings and watercolors related to gardens and associated buildings, jointly organized by the English National Trust and the American Architectural Foundation.

British War Artists
Many of the shows which Barbara Rosen personally worked on were of strong inherent public and private significance, among them a show of British War Artists. With about 100 works provided principally by the famous New York art dealer Guillaume Gallozzi (who had adopted an interest in war artists after having been involved in many trends such as graffiti, and having played a role in the career of graffiti artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat) this show took place in 1990 at the Navy Museum, where Washington DC. British war artist Steven Sykes was featured as a Gallozzi "discovery." Many of these shows and events required some amount of fund-raising from government, corporate and private donors and a large part of the responsibility for such fund raising fell on the cultural department and on Barbara Rosen.

Russia: American Oil Companies and Russian Ballet Art
In 1991 Barbara met Finnish-American software, technology and marketing entrepreneur I.J. Ikavalko, himself an artist and the son of an art dealer, and she went to work for his consulting firm Data Carrosse, which represented Finland's largest construction-engineering firm (Haka Oy) and specifically its Russia business (Haka-Stroi). Haka-Stroi provided services to American firms, including Houston-based oil companies operating in the Former Soviet Union. Barbara worked to promote this business via events, public relations and her Washington, DC connections. Barbara and I.J. were married in 1994, and in 2003 moved to Houston, TX. There, Barbara Rosen started to represent Russian ballet artist Vasily Bratanyuk, painter of scenes at the Kirov Ballet (now called the Mariinsky Ballet), whose works she sold via shows at Harvard Alumni balls and private showings.

Barbara Rosen currently resides in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where she continues her writing, arts funding and consulting activities.