Rudd Moore was one of the founders of the Society of Black Composers and wrote the music and libretto for the opera, Frederick Douglass. She has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts and has received grants from Howard University, the American Music Center, and Meet the Composer. She composes, sings, and teaches in New York City. Gail Barber Gail Barber's six Songs of Destiny, set to poems by Linda Stogner, address the idea of a universal spiritual power from various points of view. It is successively mysterious, lyrical, passionate, and finally, mysterious again, with harp glissandi creating the universal wind.
Much use is made of the whole-tone scale in the voice part.
The cycle is quite moving and works well as a whole, especially with Barber's expertise on the harp. Barber was the editor of The American Harp Journal for nine years and was a Guest of Honor at the International Harp Contests in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1979, '82, and '85. Currently, she is Professor of Harp and Music Theory at Texas Tech University. Stefania de Kenessey Stefania de Kenessey's Wintersong for orchestra clearly reflects her interest in creating lyrical and accessible contemporary music that uses consonant harmonies and classical forms. Its clear dorian mode, long sequential melodies, and rich ostinato backdrop in the low strings create a stirring and radiant work.