In this episode I speak with Durango resident Gail Harris who as a retired Navy Captain is now a student at The Julliard School and composer of broadway-style musicals.

Four Corners Arts Forum

Gail Harris retired from her job in 2001 as the highest-ranking African American female in the U.S. Navy. She has written a memoire called “A Woman’s War” about her experiences and has also become an event speaker about the intelligence community and her role in it. As a double minority she faced her challenges with humor and grit which gained her respect among her male peers but she also never took ‘no’ for an answer. Through all of her life’s challenges she found that music and the support of her family helped to ground her. Retirement has given her the chance to pursue music as her second career. In 2019 she applied to Julliard School of music in Manhattan and spent a year studying there. During and after the pandemic she has been able to continue her studies online composing musicals in her home studio on her three keyboards. Completely immersing herself in her projects she spends 18-20 hours a day working on her compositions. She applied and was invited in 2023 to The Vocal Arts Festival in Italy which she attended and has also been invited back to this year’s festival. In addition to all of this Gail finds time to be on the board of the Durango Playfest and has previously been on the board of Music in the Mountains, a classical music festival in Durango through which she has developed a connection with Julliard to provide opportunities for local high school and college music students to take courses online through their extension program. She was invited to work with the Durango Police Department in their diversity, equity and inclusion program offering the department feedback and for many years was a DJ at KDUR radio hosting a rhythm and Blues program!

To find out more about the Julliard student scholarship program visit https://musicinthemountains.com/education/education-scholarship-programs/