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Internationally known harpist, Gail Barber, a brilliant and sensitive
performer and a creative composer, has appeared in recital and as
soloist with orchestras in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and the
Middle East. An unusually versatile artist, she performs and composes
music in many styles: classical, pop, folk, jazz and New Age.
Gail Barber graduated from the Eastman School of Music where she was
awarded the Performer's Certificate in Harp. She has been a member of
the Rochester Philharmonic, Eastman Philharmonia, Chicago Little
Symphony and Peninsula Festival Orchestras and has played under such
conductors as Leinsdorf, Monteux, Martinon and Gurer Aykal.
Gail has been featured at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Harp Festival, the
International Istanbul (Turkey) Music Festival, the World Harp
Congresses (Vienna, Jerusalem and Maastricht) and the Opening Recital of
the American Harp Society National Conference. In March, 1999, she
performed the featured recital for the First International Harp Therapy
Conference in Richmond, VA.
Many of her original compositions for harp (such as Windmill Sketches)
relate to the culture or history of a country and are played all over
the world. A recent composition, Wondrous Destiny, was premiered by the
Texas Tech Harp Ensemble at the American Harp Society National
Conference in 1998. Selections from Jazz for Harp, Volumes 1 & 2, were
premiered at her recital for the Edinburgh Harp Festival, 1993. During
her solo recital for the International Istanbul Music Festival, she
premiered A Turkish Fantasy. The audience refused to let her leave the
stage until she had repeated it!-and she was immediately engaged to
repeat the recital on Turkish network television before an audience of
some 50 million people!
Gail has premiered many contemporary compositions for harp, including
several works by Alan Hovhaness, at his request. She recorded two
contemporary concertos with the Lubbock Chamber Orchestra, Gurer Aykal,
conducting: Mythos by Claire Polin and Aurolucent Echoes by Margaret
Brouwer (Opus One Label). The Sergiu Natra Sonatina for Harp appears on
the Dorian Reference Series Label, was endorsed by the composer, and was
played repeatedly on the Jerusalem Radio. Gail is included on three new
sampler CDs. Music for the Soul and Millennium: Music for the Solstice
include improvised music for healing.
Especially interested in the use of the harp for music-healing, She has
worked extensively with a holistic health care practitioner, Dr, Ingrid
Naiman, in Santa Fe, NM in providing intuitive music (spontaneously
composed) for clients. In December, 1996, in honor of her harp career
and her leading edge work in music therapy, she was awarded the M.D.
(M.A.) degree from the Open International University of Complementary
Medicines and Medicina Alternativa Institute in Sri Lanka. Medicina
Alternativa is under the auspices of the World Health Organization of
the United Nations.
Gail has recorded for Mercury, HBN, Opus One (NY), Countdown
Productions, CRS, Dorian Systems and Lyrical Light. She attracts
outstanding students from all over the world to Texas Tech University,
Lubbock, TX, where she is Professor of Harp.
"It has given me great joy to hear and work with the wonderful harpist
and teacher, Gail Barber. She is the best harpist I know...a true
artist, musician, soloist...highly skilled...sensitive. She has my
greatest admiration. " ALAN HOVHANESS
"Gail Barber's nuance and interpretation leave her listeners
speechless...a truly remarkable, ethereal harpist and composer." DR.
INGRID NAIMAN
At Texas Tech, she directs the Harp Ensemble and coordinates the yearly
Harp Festival. Harp, Music Theory.
To contact Gail Barber, email
gbarberharp@sbcglobal.net.
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