For artistic director Paula Forrest, all roads led to Ames Town & Gown.  

Born in Washington, D.C., Paula's upbringing was all about music; the immersion was so complete that looking back she cannot separate music from the rest of daily life. Her father, Sidney Forrest, a renowned clarinetist, concertized extensively and was a recording artist, as well as a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Conservatory for 40 years, and at the Interlochen Center for the Arts for 45 summers. Her mother, Faith Forrest, a pianist and teacher, was her father's musical partner and also served on the faculty at Interlochen; grandparents and even great-grandparents were also professional musicians. Life in the Forrest household revolved around music, including the introduction to chamber music – both as audience and participant – through special evenings at home and elsewhere.

Paula's piano lessons began at age four, studying first with her mother and then for eight years with concert pianist Mieczyslaw Munz of the Juilliard School and Peabody. At the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, she studied with Eugene List and George Lucktenberg. She performed extensively there, was twice a concerto winner, and received numerous awards and scholarships. In her 11 summers as a camper there, Paula became good friends and musical partner with other students who are some of today's foremost orchestral and chamber musicians, many of whom she has brought to Ames as featured performers for Town & Gown.

Paula attended the University of Michigan Honors Program, where she had ample opportunity to continue her enjoyment of serious piano studies while pursuing other academics. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Michigan, she combined her interests and talents in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, pursuing a degree in musicology but enjoying even more her assistantship as a collaborative pianist.

Following graduate school, Paula joined the staff of the Music Division of the Library of Congress, working for 13 years with the distinguished and long-lived chamber music series that offered nearly 80 performances a year. In her various roles as publicist, program annotator, broadcast note writer, backstage producer, and coordinator of the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival, she became closely acquainted with many of the world's greatest chamber musicians and their business management.

In 1988, Paula found herself in Ames, Iowa due to a family move, without any specific plans for her own career. Within two weeks, Kismet brought her into contact with some chamber music devotees looking for managerial help for their concert series, the Ames Town & Gown Chamber Music Association. Paula considered this an ideal way to meet "her people" and accepted the position of president of the board of directors. At virtually the same time, she discovered almost unlimited opportunities in Ames as a collaborative pianist and private teacher. Within a few years she also joined the piano faculty at Simpson College, the summer faculty at Interlochen, and was named staff accompanist at Iowa State University. Ames Town & Gown combined with these other professional activities to fulfill all of Paula's musical interests.

In 1990, the Town & Gown board recognized the need for an Artistic Director and appointed Paula to that position, which she still enjoys more than 35 years later. It has been her great joy to feature "world-class musicians in intimate spaces" on the wonderful stages available in Ames. And her love of working with music students of all ages has been an inspiration for increased educational outreach activities "off the stage" with Town & Gown's visiting artists.

Contact Paula at town.gown@gmail.com.