Barbra Streisand ends touring hiatus to help charities

Barbra Streisand, who back in 2000 played what she said would be her "final" public concerts, will mount a 20-date US tour this fall, some of the proceeds from which she plans to direct to charitable organizations.

"The increasingly urgent need for private citizen support to combat dangerous climate change, along with education and health issues was the prime reason I decided to tour again," Streisand said in a statement. "This will allow me to direct funds and awareness to causes that I care deeply about."

Scheduled to take place in October and November, the tour will comprise 20 concerts in major US cities, according to organizers. Dates, venues and ticket information have not yet been announced.

The tour, which will be Streisand's first national outing in over a decade, will "provide millions of dollars to organizations concerned with the environment, education and women's health" via the singer's Streisand Foundation, according to a press release.

Streisand hasn't held a concert since September of 2000, when she performed two-night stands in Los Angeles and New York, tickets for which ranged from $150 to $2,500, according to Billboard. The shows were billed as her last public performances.

"Ms. Streisand has chosen to conclude her public performance career in the two cities most closely associated with her work," her manager Martin Erlichman said in a statement issued at the time.

Prior to the 2000 concerts, Streisand played a lucrative New Year's Eve show in Las Vegas on Dec. 31, 1999 that she claimed would "probably" be her final public performance. Ticket prices ranged from $500 to $2,500, and the show set a single-concert box-office record, taking in nearly $14.7 million, according to concert industry magazine Pollstar. Despite the prices, the MGM Grand said that the shows sold out within five hours, and a New Year's Day performance was added.