David Leisner
Classical Guitarist and Composer

DAVID LEISNER is an extraordinarily versatile musician with a multifaceted career as an electrifying performing artist, a distinguished composer, and a master teacher. Regarded as one of America's leading classical guitarists, his superb musicianship and provocative programming have been applauded by critics and audiences around the world. He has been acclaimed as "a triplethreat performer" by The New York Times and a "serious, exploratory and imaginative musician" by The Boston Globe.

Mr. Leisner's career as a guitarist began auspiciously with top prizes in both the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions. In the 1980s, a disabling hand injury, focal dystonia, cut off his blossoming performing career in midstream and forced him to stop playing for nearly a decade. Through a pioneering approach to technique based on his understanding of the physical aspects of playing the guitar, Leisner gradually rehabilitated himself. Now completely recovered, he has once again resumed an active performing career, earning accolades wherever he plays.

David Leisner's recent seasons were highlighted by an innovative threeconcert series at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, which included the first allBach guitar recital in New York's history. In addition, he made acclaimed debuts in the Far East performing in Manila, in Greece at the Corfu International Guitar Congress, and in Latin America at the Cuernavaca International Guitar Festival in Mexico. He also appeared on concert series in Boston's Jordan Hall and Gardner Museum. the Cleveland Museum of Art, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, the Folly Theater in Kansas City, the St. Francis Auditorium in Santa Fe, and the Augustine Guitar Series in New York City. Other notable solo performances took place in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Syracuse, Columbus, WinstonSalem, Phoenix, and Tucson.

David Leisner was recently signed as a featured recording artist by the enterprising new label Azica Records. The first recording, an allBach album released in 1998, has earned widespread critical praise. The second CD, featuring the complete solo works for guitar by Heitor VillaLobos, is scheduled for release in January 2000. Future plans include recordings of Romantic and Contemporary music, as well as an album of his own compositions.

Mr. Leisner has appeared as a soloist with many internationally renowned orchestras, including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the New York Chamber Ensemble. and the Chamber Orchestra of New England. In great demand as a chamber musician, he has been a regular performer at the Bowdoin, Bravo! Colorado and Angel Fire Music Festivals. He recently made his debut with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Boston Chamber Music Society. His recentlyformed duo with flutist Eugenia Zukerman has already delighted audiences in New Mexico, Colorado and Maine.

Celebrated for expanding the guitar repertoire, David Leisner has introduced many important new works and has been a tireless advocate for neglected gems of the past. He has premiered works by many of today's most important composers, including Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Philip Glass, Richard Rodney Bennett, Peter Sculthorpe and Osvaldo Golijov. He was also a pioneer in the rediscovery of Johann Kaspar Mertz (18061856), whose music he recorded on The Viennese Guitar for the Titanic label and edited for publication by the Theodore Presser Company. As collaborations with Boston Symphony Orchestra flutist Fenwick Smith have been recorded on the Etcetera and Koch labels, featuring music by Ned Rorem and Daniel Pinkham. Telarc will soon release his premiere recording of a major work by Alan Hovhaness with virtuoso harpist Yolanda Kondonassis.

During the time he was unable to perform, Mr. Leisner became a highly respected composer noted for the emotional and dramatic power of his music. His Dances in the Madhouse, in both its original version for violin and guitar and as an arrangement for orchestra, has received well over 200 performances. His works have been performed worldwide by such eminent artists as Sanford Sylvan, Paul Sperry, Robert Osborne, Juliana Gondek, Susan Narucki, D'Anna Fortunato, Warren Jones, Eugenia Zukerman Benjamin Verdery, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Saturday Brass Quintet, the Eastman and Oberlin Percussion Ensembles and orchestras from coast to coast. His music has been recorded for such labels as Newport Classic, Dorian, Centaur, Signum, Athena and Acoustic Music. Recent commissions and premieres include Embrace of Peace for the Fairfield (CT) Orchestra, which was described by the Westport News as reflecting "a brilliant intellect in combination with brilliant sensitivity," and Battlefield Requiem for cellist Laurence Lesser and the New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble. The Twentieth Century Unlimited series in Santa Fe has commissioned a work from him for the St. Lawrence String Quartet and Leisner for the 2000-01 season. He has received grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the American Music Center, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and Meet the Composer.

A revered and distinguished teacher, David Leisner is currently on the faculties of the New England Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music. His lively master classes have been featured at such institutions as Yale University, University of Southern California, the Cleveland and Peabody Institutes of Music, and the San Francisco and Cincinnati Conservatories. Mr. Leisner is a graduate of Wesleyan University. Primarily self-taught as both guitarist and composer, he briefly studied guitar with John Duane, David Starobin and Angelo Gilardino and composition with Richard Winslow, Virgil Thomson, Charles Turner and David Del Tredici.

September 1999

Mr. Leisner's Web site is located at davidleisner.com

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