DOROTHY RUDD MOORE - USA
BORN 4 JUNE
Dorothy Rudd Moore (b. 1940) Harlem School of the Arts, teacher, 1965-66; New York University, teacher 1969; Bronx Community College, teacher, 1971; private piano, voice, sight-singing, and ear-training teacher, 1968-present. Considered one of her generation's leading composers of color, Dorothy has received commissions from the National Symphony, Opera Ebony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic. Her work, which includes chamber pieces, song cycles, orchestral music, and an opera, is admired for its high level of artistry and its seriousness of purpose. Moore's parents fully supported her ambitions to be a composer. She studied piano at the Wilmington School of Music, and became a student of Harry Andrews. Moore learned to play clarinet so that she could join the all-male band at Howard High. She graduated from Howard University in 1963 where she studied with Dean Warner Lawson, Thomas Kerr, and Mark Fax. She received the Lucy Moten Fellowship to study in France where she continued her studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in 1963 and Chou Wen-Chung in New York in 1965. In 1968 she became a co-founder of the Society of Black Composers in New York City.
Her works have been performed throughout the United States as well as in Europe and Asia. Other awards include an American Music Center Grant, 1972; New York State Council on the Arts Grant, 1985; several Meet the Composer grants. Her works, Dirge and Deliverance, and Songs from the Dark Tower were released by Performance Records in 1981. In 1985, the world premiere of her opera, Frederick Douglass, took place in New York City.
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SUZANNE CIANI - USA
BORN 4 JUNE
Suzanne Ciani is a composer, recording artist, and pioneer in the field of electronic music and sound design. She is best loved for her fifteen albums of original music which feature her performances in a broad array of expressions: pure electronic, solo piano, piano with orchestra, and piano with jazz ensemble. Her music, renowned for its romantic, healing, and aesthetic qualities has found a rapidly growing international audience, and her performances include numerous benefits for humanitarian causes.
Currently, Ciani resides in Northern California where, in 1995, she established her own record label, Seventh Wave. Ciani felt the need to own and control her own creative work. "In many ways, this label represents the culmination of the long journey of my evolution as a recording artist," says Ciani.
In the eighties and early nineties, in order to finance her recording projects, Ciani brought her expertise to Madison Avenue. Her New York-based commercial production company, Ciani-Musica, Inc., was the leader in the field of sound design and TV spot scoring, creating award-winning music for a host of high profile Fortune 500 clients, including Coca-Cola, Merrill Lynch, AT&T and General Electric. Additionally, Ciani has scored the Lily Tomlin feature 'The Incredible Shrinking Woman,' and 'Mother Teresa', as well as scoring for the TV daytime serial 'One Life to Live'.
In the early nineties, Ciani re-located to northern California to concentrate on her artistic career from her sea-side studio. She has toured throughout the United States, Italy, Spain, and Asia.
Her many recognitions include five Grammy nominations for Best New Age Album, an INDIE award for Best New Age Album, numerous Clios, a Golden Globe, Keyboard Magazine's "New Age Keyboardist of the Year," and the 2017 Moog Innovation Award.
Ciani is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a Masters in Music Composition from the University of California at Berkeley. A Life in Waves, a documentary about Ciani’s life and work by filmmakers Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason, debuted at SXSW in 2017.
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