Director Barbara Abarro

Barbara Abarro received her Undergraduate Degree in Music Education from VanderCook College of Music in 1995. Having taught elementary and middle school level band for 8 years, she pursued her Master's Degree in Music Education from VanderCook and was granted her MMED in the summer of 2003. She then went on to teach band and choir at the high school level until the birth of her son in 2005. Currently, she teaches general music part-time in the Chicago Catholic Schools.

Mrs. Abarro has been a member of the Arts Alive! Bands since 1993 playing bass clarinet and baritone saxophone.

Mrs. Abarro is the one of the few women in the country, and to our knowledge, the only one in the Chicago area, leading a community band.

Mrs. Abarro, her husband Chris and their two children live in Chicago's western suburbs.