David Leisner

David Leisner (born December 22, 1953) is a classical guitarist, composer, teacher at the Manhattan School of Music and one of the leading authorities on focal dystonia, due to being impaired by the injury for 12 years and recovering through methods that he developed and now teaches his students.

Biography

David Leisner sprang onto the guitar scene with top prizes in the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions. As his performing career blossomed, Leisner suddenly became disabled by focal dystonia, interrupting his career for twelve years until he recovered on his own from methods that he developed from studying the physical aspects of playing the guitar. Since his comeback, he has completed major tours of Australia and New Zealand, as well as debuts and reappearances in Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the UK, Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Puerto Rico and Mexico. He has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony, and on concert series in such notable venues as 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. A three-concert solo series in New York's Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall included the first all-Bach recital in New York's history, and in recent years Leisner has been the Artistic Director of Guitar Plus, an annual series in New York devoted to chamber music with the guitar.

Leisner's acclaimed solo CDs have included a wide range of music, including Bach, Villa-Lobos, Mertz and Schubert, contemporary composers, his own compositions, and an album of "favorites", including the Britten Nocturnal and the Bach Chaconne. He has recorded guitar concertos by Hovhaness and Andrew Thomas, as well as chamber music by Haydn, Rorem, Pinkham and Hovhaness. His recordings have drawn praise from musicians of all kinds and magazines worldwide.

Celebrated for expanding the guitar repertoire, David Leisner has premiered and commissioned many new works and has been an advocate for neglected works of the past (see Musical Research below). He has premiered works by David Del Tredici, Peter Sculthorpe, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Philip Glass, Richard Rodney Bennett, Osvaldo Golijov, Randy Woolf, Carlos Carillo and Gordon Beeferman.

As a composer, Leisner's works have been performed worldwide by such eminent artists as Sanford Sylvan, Wolfgang Holzmair, Paul Sperry, Robert Osborne, Kurt Ollmann, Patrick Mason, Juliana Gondek, Susan Narucki, D'Anna Fortunato, Warren Jones, Eugenia Zukerman, David Starobin, Benjamin Verdery, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Cavatina Duo, the Arc Duo, the Saturday Brass Quintet, the Eastman and Oberlin Percussion Ensembles, and a number of orchestras in the US. He has also 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. His orchestral, chamber, vocal and guitar works are published mostly by Theodore Presser Co., with other publications by Doberman-Yppan, Columbia Music and G. Schirmer. Recordings of his works are available on the Cedille, SonyClassical, Dorian, Centaur, Town Hall, Signum, Acoustic Music, ABC, Athena, Fleur de Son and Barking Dog labels.

David Leisner is currently co-chairman of the guitar department at the Manhattan School of Music. He formerly taught at the New England Conservatory for 22 years. A graduate of Wesleyan University, he studied guitar with John Duarte, David Starobin and Angelo Gilardino and composition with Richard Winslow, Virgil Thomson, Charles Turner and David Del Tredici.

Research on focal dystonia

In the 1980s, David Leisner was disabled by focal dystonia, an injury that affected his right hand when playing guitar. He sought the advice of medical professionals from western medicine to acupuncturists, but no one could heal his hand. Although during this period he became an important and respected personality in the composition world, he was unable to keep away from the stage. He began performing music utilizing only a few of the fingers on his right hand, and performed difficult works that dazzled audiences, most unaware that he was injured. Eventually, through his own personal study of the engagement of large-muscle groups, he healed himself completely and now teaches his discoveries to students in masterclasses and private lessons.

Musical research

Leisner has repeatedly made important contributions to the classical guitar world through his research and historical discoveries. He has been responsible for reviving the music of Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856), and he has recorded versions of the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos as displayed in its original manuscripts. Most recently, Leisner is championing the music of Wenzeslaus Matiegka (1773-1830), a 19th-century composer that Leisner describes as the "Beethoven of the guitar."

Discography

Solo guitar:

• Bach: Cello and Lute Suites (Azica, 1998)
• Villa-Lobos - The Complete Solo Guitar Works (Azica, 2000)
• Music of the Human Spirit (Azica, 2002)
• Le Romantique (Azica, 2003)
• Self-Portrait (Azica, 2006)
• "Matiegka, the Beethoven of the Guitar" (Azica, 2009)
• "Favorites" (Azica, 2011)

Chamber music and concertos:

• Music of Alan Hovhaness (Telarc)
• Chamber Music of Daniel Pinkham (Koch)
• Chamber Music of Ned Rorem (Naxos)
• Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival (Koch)
• "Hovhaness, Guitar Concerto, op. 325" (Naxos)
• "Thomas, The Heroic Triad" (Opus One)

Recordings of Leisner compositions:

• "Crazy Jane": David Starobin and Patrick Mason (Bridge)
• "Acrobats": Cavatina Duo (Cedille)
• "Music of the Americas": Virginia Taylor and Timothy Kain
• Dances in the Madhouse: Harris Coates Duo (Barking Dog Records)
• Homages and Evocations: Pearl and Gray Guitar Duo (Dorian)
• Haslop-Sanders Duo: Haslop-Sanders Duo (Centaur)
• Bad Boy: Folkwang Guitarren Duo (Signum)
• "Orange Moon": Villa-Lobos Duo (Acoustic Music Records)
• "Red Cedar Collection": Bowland/Dowdall Duo (Fleur de Son)
• Outdoor Shadows: Olson/De Cari Duo (Talking Cat Records)
• Disturbed, a Lullaby: Aaron Larget-Caplan (Six String Sound)

Compositions

Solo guitar:

• "Labyrinths" (16'), 2007 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• "Disturbed, a Lullaby" (5'), 2006 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Nel Mezzo: Sonata" for guitar (20’), 1998 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Freedom Fantasies (19’), 1992 (Doberman-Yppan)
• Four Pieces (15’), 1979, 1986 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• “Billy Boy” Variations" (4’), 1983 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Passacaglia and Toccata (6’), 1982 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)

Voice and guitar:

• "West Wind" (16'), high voice, 2011 (unpublished)
• "Three James Tate Songs" (9'), medium voice, 2007 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Heaven's River (10'), soprano, 1991 (Dobermann-Yppan)
• Five Songs of Devotion (16'), medium voice, 1989 (Columbia Music)
• Confiding (30'), high voice, 1985-86 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Outdoor Shadows (1l'), high voice, 1985 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Four Yiddish Songs (12’), medium (or high) voice, 1983 (Dobermann-Yppan)
• Simple Songs (7'), medium voice, 1982 (AMP/G. Schirmer Music Publishers)

Orchestra

• Embrace of Peace (14’) for orchestra (2222 4221 1perc str), 1991 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Dances in the Madhouse (13’) for orchestra (2222 2200 1perc str), 1982, arranged for orchestra, 1989 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Clouds and Waves (Rabindranath Tagore) (6’) for young people’s chorus and young people’s string orchestra, 1993 (Unpublished)

Chamber music with guitar

• "Away" (11') for flute and guitar, 2008 (unpublished)
• Acrobats (13') for flute and guitar, 2002 (Dobermann-Yppan)
• Vision of Orpheus (17') for guitar and string quartet, 2000 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• El Coco (The Bogeyman) (3') for flute and guitar, 1999 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Roaming (8’) for 3 guitars, 1994 (Dobermann-Yppan)
• The Cat that Walked by Himself (22’) for 4 guitars, 1988 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Mirage (6’) for two guitars, 1987 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Extremes (13’) for flute, clarinet and guitar, 1987 (Doberman-Yppan)
• Trittico (12’), for flute, cello and guitar, 1985 (Doberman-Yppan)
• Nostalgia (5’), for violin/flute and guitar, 1985 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Sonata (16’) for violin and guitar, 1985 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Three Moons (17’) for cello and guitar, 1984 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Dances in the Madhouse (12’) for violin/flute and guitar, 1982 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• "Ghosting" (9') for two guitars, 2013 (Unpublished)

Chamber music

• "Twilight Streams" (12') for cello and guitar, 2012 (Unpublished)
• "Das Wundebare Wesen" (10') for baritone and cello, 2011 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Bloom (9') for string quartet, 2005 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• A Timeless Procession (9') for baritone and string quartet, 2004 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Of Darkness and Light (10') for tenor, violin, oboe and piano, 2002 (Unpublished)
• Battlefield Requiem (15’) for solo cello and percussion quartet, 1995 (Unpublished)
• Ad majorem Dei gloriam (12’) for brass quintet (2 Bb tpt., hn., trb., tb.), 1992 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• On Jazz Terrain (13’) for flute, Bb clarinet, alto saxophone and piano, 1990 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Candles in Mecca (23’) for violin, cello and piano, 1988 (Unpublished)

"'Solo instrument"'

• "Labyrinths II" (16') for solo piano, 2009 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• "Vapors" (9') for solo viola, 2008-9 (Unpublished)

Voice and piano

• Confiding (30'), high voice (also available for medium), 1985-86 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• O Love is the Crooked Thing" (15'), medium or low voice, 1980 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• To Sleep (9'), medium voice (also available for low), 1994 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• Fidelity (22'), tenor (or soprano) and baritone, 1996 (Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co.)
• "Chance Awakenings" (9'), soprano, 2003 (Unpublished)

Sources

• Dickenson, J. Andrew: "Re-Discovering Guitar", Urban Guitar, September 2006
• Lehman, Carol: "An Interview with David Leisner", Guitar Review, Summer 1994
• Leisner, David: "Six Golden Rules for Conquering Performance Anxiety", American String Teacher, Spring 1995
• Cooper, Colin: "Journey of Discovery", Classical Guitar, June 1997
• Traviss, Guy: "David Leisner", "Classical Guitar", February 2014
• Hall, Macer: "David Leisner", "Classical Guitar", February 2004
• Leisner, David: "Why the 1928 Manuscript?" (Part 1 and 2), "Classical Guitar", December 2003 and January 2004
• Leisner, David: "The Trouble with New Music", "Musical America", May 1989
• Leisner, David: "The Most Distinguished American Compositions for Solo Guitar, "Soundboard", Vol. 16, 1989
• Leisner, David: "Three Perspectives on Henze's Drei Tentos", "Soundboard", Vol 4, no. 2, May 1977 (also translated into Japanese and Italian, and published in "Gendai", Vol. 7, 1977, and "Il Fronimo", Vol. 21, 1977)
• Holenko, John: "An Interview with David Leisner", "Soundboard", Vol 18, 1991
• Verdery, Benjamin: "An Interview with David Leisner", "Soundboard, Vol. 33, 2007

External links

• Official site of David Leisner
• David Leisner's page at Theodore Presser Company
• Six Golden Rules for Conquering Performance Anxiety by David Leisner