Kendra Preston Leonard is librettist and lyricist inspired by the local, historical, and mythopoeic. She is especially interested in addressing issues of social justice and the environment. She has collaborated with composers on works ranging from pieces for solo voice to operas. Leonard is also a musicologist and music theorist, and her academic work focuses on women and music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; and music and screen history.
Articles by Kendra Preston Leonard:
The continuing popularity of silent film showings with live music means that there is plenty of room for experimentation in composing new scores for old pictures—and that audiences can experience...
We all know that the soundtrack changes the way we experience a movie. Buster Keaton’s 1927 comedy "The General" is a popular choice for showings with live accompaniment, and here...
Many cue sheets for silent film show notations where the performer swapped out a suggested piece with one they already knew or owned. Claire Hamack, an accompanist whose scores, photoplay...
The advent of the moving picture brought about the development of an enormous amount of new music composed specifically to accompany film. There are hundreds of pieces in the Silent...