From the world stage to local hearts: Acclaimed pianist shares her music with Mercer County neighbors

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Before Ena Barton was born, her father, a violinist, bought a piano because he wanted his child to play music with him. Barton began her piano lessons when she was 5, and by age 14, she was performing solo concerts in Santiago, Chile, where she was born and raised.

“It went pretty well,” she said. “I knew I was pretty good and I could perform well, but I got very nervous, so I didn’t like that.”

A year later, accompanied by her mother, an amateur singer, Barton toured across Chile and slowly spread her wings to Argentina, Peru and Ecuador to perform.

“I was clueless other than from one lesson to another, I did what I was told,” Barton said. “I didn’t question very much how is this all happening, I really was not very aware.”

When she was a teenager, Barton was sent to New York City to study with Claudio Arrau, considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.

Soon after arriving in the U.S. in the 1960s, Barton played a concert at Town Hall in New York. Performances across the country followed, and she toured Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand for decades.

Playing the piano is a magical experience, Barton said.

“It’s the vehicle that makes it possible for me to understand a Beethoven sonata, or the world of Schubert or a Bach fugue,” she said. “The piano is what makes it possible to touch these great works of music, some of the most beautiful creations that man has come up with.”

Barton said as an artist, she was always nervous playing before an audience. But she would always strive to focus on bringing her music to life.

“I think there’s a lot of commonality with being an actor,” she said. “I’ve never been an actor, but an actor is also speaking another person’s words, and they have to embody the role. It’s that kind of experience.”

From touring to teaching

Barton no longer tours, but the piano is still a vital part of her life, almost like a second skin, she said. These days, she is the head of the piano department at the Westminster Conservatory of Music at Rider University. Her students love working with her.

“She’s a fabulous teacher, very encouraging, because she combines a sense of humanity and individual nurturing for each student, along with a level of excellence,” said Mary Greenberg, who has been studying piano with Barton since 1987.

Rosanne Vita Nahass, who was a medical doctor, became a concert pianist after studying with Barton for 18 years.

“She has changed my life, she is the most wonderful human being and piano teacher that one could ever hope for,” she said. “Ena has taught me to be myself, be faithful to the score, to listen to what the composer wants to transmit, and she’s wonderful with technique, finding your own voice.”

Francis Melvin said Barton is her favorite teacher since childhood. “She’s so supportive, working with her I’ve been able to relax and find myself musically,” she said.

Barton said playing the notes of a piece of music is only the beginning, the first step in a wonderful process.

“It’s like a language, there are many things one has to learn to make the music sound, speak, have feeling, have beauty to it, have form, say something and represent the composer,” she said.

She continues to play a variety of classical music, including Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, sometimes for neighbors in her Mercer County community.

“I want to share what I can give, I’m not good at cooking or baking, it’s like I know something beautiful and special, let me show it to you,” she said. “If I’m not playing or practicing or in touch with it, I don’t feel, like, I feel strange, like something is missing, and it’s part of who I am by now,” she said.

Al Segal, Barton’s 99-year-old next-door neighbor, said it’s a treat to have a musician neighbor. “When we sit on our patio, her piano is just 20 feet away, we can hear her play and I just love to watch her and listen to her play,” he said.

Segal’s wife, Blanche, who is 98, said Barton is one of the best neighbors she could ask for.

“She’s a pleasure, I just wish she would have her windows open more often so I could hear her playing, cause she is just marvelous,” she said.

Al Segal said even when Barton is just practicing one section of a piece of a concerto, it’s delightful.

“She is into that music, and as much as one can get into it, she’s there, she’s just a wonderful player,” he said.