Neil Leonard III

Neil Leonard, III (March 16, 1959) is a transdisciplinary artist: a composer, saxophonist, and sound and video artist. Leonard’s works include concerts for ensembles with live electronics, audio installation and multimedia performance. He collaborates with artists in Cuba, Italy, Israel, Canada, China, Brazil, Mexico, and across the US.
Leonard works with artist from film, video, installation, dance, and theater to create and perform music. He uses immersive multichannel audio configurations. Large scale installations and performances include works with Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Fujiko Nakaya, Phill Niblock and Tony Oursler.
Leonard has taught electronic music production several countries. He is a Professor at the Berklee College of Music in the Department of Electronic Music Production and Design and the founding Artistic Director of the Berklee Interdisciplinary Arts Institute.
==Biography== 
Neil Leonard III was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of jazz historian Neil Leonard II, whose book Jazz and the White Americans explored the evolution of jazz and radio and how it invoked shifts in American culture. Neil grew up listening to jazz and understanding its importance in society.
Mr. Leonard began playing saxophone in Philadelphia as a young man and performed in at jazz clubs in Philadelphia with childhood friends Robin and Kevin Eubanks and elder musicians Jymie Merritt, Byard Lancaster, his teacher Odean Pope and members of the Sun Ra Arkestra. He studied saxophone at the New England Conservatory with Joe Allard and received a Master's degree in Music Composition from New England Conservatory studying with Bob Brookmeyer, Michael Gandolfi and George Russell.
In 1985, Leonard use newly available microcomputers to write software to create musical response to saxophone. In 1986, he traveled to Cuba and worked with Juan Blanco, the island’s pioneering electronic music composer. Leonard continued collaborating with Cuban musicians and in 1989 with the help of Leo Brower and Chucho Valdes, moved to Havana to teach with Blanco in the Laboratorio Nacional de Musica Electroacustica. He has performed and has continued collaborations with Cuban artists Blanco, Oriente Lopez, Emiliano Salvador and the folkloric ensemble Los Muñequitos de Matanzas.
==Career== 
Leonard has played in ensembles featuring Marshall Allen (Director of Sun Ra Orchestra), Bruce Barth, Terence Blanchard, Joanne Brackeen, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Kenwood Dennard, Robin Eubanks, Oriente Lopez, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Rudresh Mahanthappa. He collaborates with Juan Blanco, Phill Niblock, Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner), Stephen Vitiello and Amnon Wolman.
Leonard’s sound installations have been featured by Mass MoCA, Williams College Museum of Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts College of Art, Havana Bienal (Cuba), Bienal de Bahia (Brazil), Tzlil Meudcan Festival (Israel).
Leonard's work with visual artist Magdalena Campos-Pons began in 1988 and includes music and audio for 38 works for film, video, installation and performance. They were commissioned as an artistic duo to create works for documenta14, Guggenheim Museum, Venice Biennale, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the Havana Bienal.
==Discography== 
As Leader
•	Sonance for the Precession (Akoh/XI Records, 2021)
•	Matanzas (Akoh, 2017)
•	Security Vehicles Only (XI Records, 2017) with Amnon Wolman
•	Mil Maneras (GASP Records, 2014) with Oren Fader
•	For Kounellis (GASP Records, 2014)
•	Marcel’s Window (GASP Records, 2011)
•	Timeaus (Cedar Hill Records, 2001)
As Sideman
•	With Oriente Lopez, Abracadabra (OHL Music, 2016)
•	With Dave Bryant, The Garden of Equilibria (SE Records, 2014) 
•	With Juan Blanco, Nuesto Tiempo (Our Time) (Innova Recordings, 2013)
•	With Giuliano Perin, 
o	I Remember Palladio (Caligola Records, 2010)
o	Passion and Reason (Caligola Records, 2007)
o	With Alloy Orchestra (Accurate Records, 1994)
•	With Steve Weisberg
o	I Can't Stand Another Night Alone (In Bed with You) (ECM, 1986)
•	With Hal Wilner
o	Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill (A&M Records, 1985)
==Interdisciplinary works== 
==Sound installation== 
“Sonance for the Precession” (2019), 4-channel outdoor installation
“Shadows and Sonance” (2019), 52-channel installation for ISM Hexadome, with Pierce Warnecke
“Canto de Muelle (Song of the Docks)” (2006),45 RPM vinyl disc, turntable, speaker sugar sacks, freight elevator
“Portrait of Bahia” (2014), 2-channel installation
True Bread (2013), 10-channel installation with 2-channel video 
“Pregonero Award Ceremony” (2012), spoken word performance with 18 street criers for Havana Bienal opening
“Partita Tripla con Galilei” (2009), 6-channel sound installation composed with Maura Capuzzo, Marco Braggion
"uscir ad ascoltar le stelle..." (2008), 3-channel sound installation composed with Maura Capuzzo
“Echoes and Footsteps” (2006), 5.1 sound installation
== Interdisciplinary collaborations==
“Lavender Ruins” (2018) 4-channel outdoor installation with Fujiko Nakaya
“Matanzas Sound Map” (2017), 10-channel sound for installation with Magdalena Campos
"53+1=54+1=55. Letter of the Year" (2013), 18-channel sound for installation with Magdalena Campos
“Psychomimetiscape” (1988), sound for mixed media installation by Tony Oursler
==Compositions== 
==Instrumental ensemble== 
“Identified” (2016), for sax, tpt, pno, 3 voice, 4 Cuban perc., jazz orchestra with Terence Blanchard
“Philadelphia Suite” (2011), alto/soprano saxophone, piano, bass, drum kit 
“Paul Robeson Suite” (2007), alto/soprano saxophone, piano, bass, drum kit 
“Dreaming of an Island” (2007), for chamber orchestra, electronics and live-video
“Meditations on the Sea” (2000), for fl, cl, vln, vla, vcl
“Vitrales” (1999), for acoustic guitar 
“Totems” (1993), for cl, vln, vla, vcl, pno
==Instrumental with electronics== 
"Healing Wind" (2022) alto saxophone and live electronics
"Sounding the Cloud" (2018) alto saxophone and live electronics with Robin Rimbaud and Stephen Vittielo
“Rio Canimar” (2016), alto saxophone incorporating live electronics and field recordings 
“Cienega Zapata” (2016), alto saxophone incorporating live electronics and field recordings 
“Reverberations II” (2016), 2 alto saxophones, live audio processing with Rudresh Mahanthappa
“Attachment Unavailable” (2016), tenor saxophone, 4-channel electroacoustic playback
“Telkari” (2015) 8:00, 2 alto saxophones and 1000 mobile devices
“Transonic” (2015), alto/soprano saxophone, live audio processing, piano, 3 modular synthesizers
“Pregonero” (2013), alto/soprano saxophone and trombone with live audio processing 
“Reverberations I” (2011), 2 alto saxophones, live audio processing with Rudresh Mahanthappa
“For Kounellis” (2008), soprano saxophone, live audio processing, electronic playback 
“Echoes and Footsteps” (2006), soprano saxophone, live audio processing, electroacoustic playback and video 
“Pearls for Swine” (2005), bass clarinet with live audio processing
“Interiority” (2003), guitar and electronic playback 
“Three Riffs for Five Strings” (2002) cello with live audio processing
==Interactive computer music== 
“Timaeus” (2001), alto saxophone and interactive music system 
“M87” (1996), alto Saxophone, bassoon, interactive music system 
“Passage” (1996), alto saxophone, interactive music system 
“Sacred Bath” (1993), alto Saxophone, bells, clay flute, interactive music system 
“In Transition” (1990) viola, interactive music system 
“Legacy: San Lazaro” (1989) soprano saxophone, interactive music system 
==Film and video soundtracks==
“Baño Sagrado” (1990), electroacoustic sound for video by Magdalena Campos
“Relatives” (1989), sound for video/performance by Tony Oursler and Constance DeJong
“Rite of Initiation” (1988), electroacoustic sound for Super 8 film by Magdalena Campos
==Awards== 
Montalvo Arts Center, Lucas Artists Residency Program, CA (2018)
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva, FL (2016)
Fulbright Specialist Award, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, (2016, Cubadisco, International Prize for CD “Mil Maneras” - Leonard: composer/electronics/producer (2015) 
Berklee College of Music, Distinguished Faculty Award (2011)
The Banff Centre for the Arts, Media Arts Associate, Alberta, Canada (1986/1989/1990) 
Category:1959 births
Category:Interdisciplinary artists
Category:Composers