Barbara Ester
- Interviewed November 14, 2020
Barbara Ester was born in Illinois. She moved to Miami in 1976, where she lived for 20 years in Lesbian community, performing and cocreating “Music for Lesbians” (4 recordings). She also performed as soloist in Kay Gardner’s Ouroboros, which premiered at the National Women’s Music Festival in 1994. Her story is cited in Sinister Wisdom, volume 64, Lesbians: Music, Art and Drama.
Barbara Ester’s interviews and writing appear in several volumes of Sinister Wisdom: Southern Lesbian Feminist Herstory Project. A songwriter, musician, and massage therapist, she currently lives in South Carolina, with Beth York, her beloved partner. They have been performing, writing, and recording their music ever since they met in 1995.
Recordings can be found on their YouTube pages.
Heartsongs is available for purchase via email: barbesterd@gmail.com
Finding Home can be purchased through CDBaby or via email: eyork4366@gmail.com
See also:
Barbara Ester’s interview with Mindy Dyke on December 12, 2012.
Barbara Ester’s interview with Mary Sims on April 8, 2013.
Barbara Ester, “Inside Miami’s Lesbian Culture,” Sinister Wisdom 93 (Summer 2014): 27-31.
_____, “Lu Rivers’ Bars to Bizarres,” Sinister Wisdom 109 (Summer 2018):70-72.
_____, “Music for Lesbians,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017): 90-92.
_____, “Roots and Branches: Miami’s Lesbian Culture,” Sinister Wisdom 109 (Summer 2018): 57-58.
_____, “A Trail of Dykes: Miami Daze,” Sinister Wisdom 93 (Summer 2014):32-34.
_____, “Women’s Music Festivals in the South,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017):168-71.
_____ and Robin Toler, “Harvesting from Maize,” Sinister Wisdom 98 (Fall 2015): 95-97.
_____ and Rose Norman, “Timeline: Women’s Festivals in the Southeast,” Sinister Wisdom 104 (Spring 2017):172-75.