Sam Lane will peform a concert at Cromwell UMC on Saturday, July 20. He was born blind and reads music by Braille.

News Release

CROMWELL — Accomplished pianist Sam Lane will perform a concert from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at Cromwell United Methodist Church, 116 W. Orange St., Cromwell. A brief intermission with ice cream and cookies will occur at approximately 3 p.m.

Lane was born blind and started playing the piano at the age of 3 after listening to his mother play the piano in church. He performed his first concert in nursery school and began formal training when he was 7.

He attended the Bronx School for the Blind, where he learned to read Braille music, and obtained a degree in piano performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio.

His lack of sight is compensated for by his phenomenal sense of hearing and his instinctively brilliant musical aptitude. He told the Bradenon Herald, “There have been times when a music director was afraid to use me because I couldn’t see him, but I was always able to discern where he was going by listening to other musicians and him as well.”

Lane’s roster of musicians who have inspired him includes Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Junior Walker, Benny Goodman, Ramsey Lewis and Glenn Miller.

“Ray Charles wrote, ‘I don’t need to see,'” said Lane. “I agree. I don’t need to see.”

Lane, 69, who lives in Bradenton, Fla., with his wife, Anita, serves as music director for two churches, pianist for a senior adult choir and a national performer who shares the musical gift God has given him.

He is actively involved in the Bradenton-based non-profit Aurora Ministries, which provides audio Bibles and other biblical resources to visually impaired and print handicapped individuals around the world.

At the concert in Cromwell, Lane will play gospel, secular or classical music upon request. He also plays jazz, blues, ragtime, pop, hip pop, rap and country.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted at the door.