Pianist Laura Leon: American Music At The Piano
She was honored to perform solo piano works by Peter Schickele at the 2011 Classical Recording Foundation Gala at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall-at which Mr. Schickele received its Composer of the Year Award presented by WNYC's John Schaefer--followed by a four-hand performance with the composer. Her participation was in conjunction with the release that year of Morning Music: Piano Works by Peter Schickele and P.D.Q. Bach.
She produced and performed in Mr. Schickele's 75th birthday concert at Steinway Hall, hosted by Robert Sherman and featuring a roster of musicians including trumpeter Caleb Hudson, violinist Joan Plana and pianist Martha Locker.
Laura gave the North American Premiere of Masha's Arigato: Warsaw to Japan (1939-1941), a solo piano work composed by Nina Leon in tribute to the heroic WW II Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara and the people of Japan and a tribute to her mother Masha Leon (from her 3 daughters) on August 25, 2024 at a private event in NYC. The World Premiere of the work was given by Ms. Nobue Douda in Tsuruga, Japan on the same day at the Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum in Tsuruga, Japan.
The original version of Masha's Arigato had its World Premiere on December 3 2020 by Ms. Douda, on the occasion of the Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum's reopening ceremony. Laura gave the North American premiere of the original work on October 12, 2022 at a NYC event hosted by Japanese Ambassador Mikio Mori in honor of Takanobu Fushikami, the Honorable Mayor of Tsuruga City, Japan.
She has collaborated with violinist Colin Jacobsen, including at Tilles Center with Morton Gould's Suite for Violin anPiano, honoring the composer; and the Suite with violinist Renee Jolles at an American Society for Jewish Music's Music In Our Time concert.
Laura's program to help support Heifer International's International Bee Day included film composer Mark Isham's piano arrangement based on his film score "The Secret Life of Bees-Suite for Piano" which he made available just for the occasion. She commissioned and premiered Steven Rosenhaus' Matilda Variations at the NY Australian Consulate General, in honor of Australia.
She was music director for the 2003 Emmy-award winning documentary The Hidden Life: The Story of the Sisters of St. Mary, produced and directed by Suzy Schechtman, which aired on PBS.
Her multimedia collaborations include award-winning NY photographer Barry Rosenthal for the premiere of Found in Nature: Visualizing a Photographer's Compositions by Leo Kraft, with digital animator David Tennet at Yamaha's NY Piano Salon; followed by its performances at Queens College's Two Places: NY and Prague in conjunction with Czech artist Anna Matoushkova's exhibition Place-Homage to Leo Kraft and Mannes College of Music; PRO.JECT was a 3-day event with composer Steven Rosenhaus, photographers Barry Rosenthal and Eric Jacobson and backdrop designer Sandro LeFerla.
Laura has given numerous performances of Hugo Weisgall's heralded Yiddish song cycle The Golden Peacock, which include which the late soprano Judith Raskin at Queens College, soprano Ena Freeman at the ASJM's Music In Our Time, and soprano Emily Duncan-Brown at the Center for Jewish History's International Symposium Imagination and Catastrophe: Art and the Aftermath of Genocide.
Laura maintains a strong connection to 20th century American composers who set the compass for composition today. She received an Ed.D. in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University for her disseration on songs and song cycles of Hugo Weisgall, a distinguished American 20th century opera composer.