cheryl e. leonard - selected musical works
2021
SCHISM,
Digital album/cassette, field recordings, coil pickup recordings, and sounds played on amplified natural materials, glass, and metal intermingle in two compositions (Schism, Eremozoic) about the extinction crisis
UNSTABLE MATERIAL, in situ improvisations on and near ruins of military installations at Marin Headlands; field recordings of buoys, surf, and wind; stones, rusty metal, ceramic tiles, and kelp flutes
EREMOZOIC, for ocean waves resonating in antique glass bottles, and field recordings of ocean surf and birds
2020
SCHISM,
for inductor recordings of an old laptop computer, field recordings of insects, birds, bats, and squirrels; sounds played on sand, feathers, bones, rocks, kelp flutes, glass bowls, and metal bowl gongs
SIREN SONGS, for
three glass discs, the Pacific Ocean, bowed clamshells, and sand - SFMOMA's Open Space
DEATH IS GROWING IN HIS EYES, for animal bones, driftwood, and glass bottles - International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, Santa Tirso, Portugal
2019
WATERSHED,
CD/digital album, field recordings and sounds from amplified natural materials, glass, and metal are intertwined in three compositions (Confluences, Frozen Over, and Watershed) that explore water in California
AS WIND IS TO WEATHER, for field recordings of wind & rain on wire fence, rain on loch, water beetles, wind in tree branches, wind in heather, and stones
INDUCTOR, for sand, stones, kelp flutes, inductor recording of an old laptop, and field recordings of birds, bats, and insects - Peacock Lounge, San Francisco
2018
BREKANT,
for glass bottles, granite slab, and field recordings from Norway of wind on the edge of the Folgefonna Glacier and birds in Roaldsdalen
CONFLUENCES (concert version), for shells, crab claws, bird bones, driftwood, pebbles, glass, rocks, kelp flutes, and field recordings of San Diego shorelines threatened by sea level rise
2017
CONFLUENCES,
art/music installation about extreme high sea level events comprised of glass and driftwood instruments, field recordings of shorelines threatened by sea level rise, and sounds from stones and kelp flutes - Weather on Steroids: The Art of Climate Change Science Exhibition, La Jolla Historical Society Wisteria Cottage Gallery, La Jolla, CA; San Diego Central Library Gallery, San Diego, CA
SLOUGH, for water, glass, stones, sand, and field recordings of streams and oceans - Re:Sound River Bank, Vallejo, CA; 63 Bluxome Gallery, San Francisco, CA
RESPIRARE LIGNO, for amplified driftwood - on This Music Plants Trees 2, from Aural Films
THE LONGEST AND SHORTEST DAYS, for kelp flutes and the ringing rocks of Butte, MT
2011 - 2019
ADFREEZE
PROJECT, a series of multidisciplinary installations and live performances (including MONACOBREEN, ICELINE, MOFFEN, and GLUGGE) which portray the
Svalbard region of the Arctic, a collaboration with visual artist Oona
Stern - Augustana College, Rock Island, IL; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL; David Brower Center, Berkeley, CA; Outsound New Music Summit, San Francisco, CA; New Music Festival, California State University Fullerton; University of Colorado, Boulder; Shapeshifter Cinema, Oakland, CA; Soundwave 6 Festival, San Francisco, CA; University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA; BYTE Gallery International Exhibition, Studio 300 Digital Art and Music Festival, Lexington, KY; Insomnia Festival of Future Music and Technology, Kurant Gallery, Tromsø, Norway
2009
- 2019
ANTARCTICA:
MUSIC FROM THE ICE ,
a set of ten compositions (LULLABY
FOR E SEALS, GREATER THAN 20 KNOTS, BRASH ICE, ROOKERIE, POINT EIGHT ICE, WHITE ON WHITE,
ABLATION ZONE, MELTWATER, OCEANUS MERIDIEM, and SOUTHERN OCEAN) for natural materials and field recordings
from the Antarctic Peninsula - Augustana College, Rock Island, IL;University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL;David Brower Center, Berkeley, CA;Sound Transitions Festival, Université Paris 8 - Saint-Denis, France; Balance Unbalance Conference, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; University of Colorado, Boulder; Shapeshifter Cinema, Oakland, CA; San Francisco Tape Music Festival; Emerald Tablet, San Francisco, CA; University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA; Sabaco Music & Cafe, Tokyo; Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA; IceFest,
Christchurch, New Zealand; Fort
Collins Museum of Art and Fort Collins Community College, Fort Collins,
CO; Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
IL; Antarctic Music Festival, Australia National University, Canberra;
Soundwave 4 Green Sound Festival, the Lab, San Francisco, CA; Activating
the Medium Festival, The Lab, San Francisco, CA; Mills College, Oakland,
CA; Djerassi Artists Salon, Monte Sereno, CA; Luggage Store Gallery, San
Francisco, CA
2016
ASTERISMS,
for dirt, stones, tree branches, and autumn leaves; commissioned for Hope Mohr Dance's Bridge Project: Ten Artists Respond to Locus - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, San Francisco, CA; 63 Bluxome Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 - 2016
THALASSA,
four music compositions to accompany visual artworks by Genevieve
Swifte - .M Contemporary Gallery, Sydney, Australia; Center for New Music, San Francisco, CA; The Nunnery, San Francisco, CA; School of Art Gallery, Australia National University, Canberra, ACT
2015
FOREST PHRASE,
field recordings and photography of eucalypt forests in southeastern Australia, exhibition in collaboration with visual artist Genevieve
Swifte - School of Art Gallery, Australia National University, Canberra, ACT
THRESHOLD,
Arctic video and sound piece, collaboration with visual artist Genevieve
Swifte - University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL;School of Art Gallery, Australia National University, Canberra, ACT; Outsound New Music Summit, San Francisco
FROZEN OVER,
for field recordings of frozen lakes, Japanese bowl gongs, shells, and stones, with live video performance by Rebecca Haseltine - Outsound New Music Summit, San Francisco; Re:Sound, Mare Island, Vallejo, CA; Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA
WATERSHED,
for water, shells, sand, kelp, glass, and field recordings, with live video performance by Rebecca Haseltine - Shapeshifters Cinema, Oakland, CA; Re:Sound, Mare Island, Vallejo, CA; Center for New Music, San Francisco
BODYSCAPE,
sound and dance performance, collaboration with composer Luca Forcucci and dancer/choreographer Crystal Sepúlveda - The Lab, San Francisco, CA; Temescal Art Center, Oakland, CA
2014
FORMFIELDS,
music for natural-object instruments, created for a live video performance by Angie Eng - Roulette, Brooklyn, NY
2013
ICE RIVER,
for kelp and shell instrument with field recordings - on the CD Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup: People Make Things That Make Sounds, Eh? Records
2012
SILA,
Arctic video and sound piece, collaboration with visual artist Genevieve
Swifte - David Brower Center, Berkeley, CA; San
Francisco Electronic Music Festival; Museo de Arte Tigre, Argentina; Galeri de Arte Contemporaneo de Xalapa, Mexico; Canberra Museum and Gallery, Canberra, Australia
ERGLINES,
a
multimedia piece inspired
by wind patterns in the desert, collaboration with The
Lumiaks (Angie Eng and Sofi Hémon) - Maison
Populaire, Paris, France
POLARNATT,
for stones and shells from the Arctic and Antarctic, penguin bones and
glass, with field recordings from Spitsbergen -
San Francisco Electronic
Music Festival; Fort Collins Museum of Art and Fort Collins Community
College, Fort Collins, CO; Alameda Public Library, Alameda, CA; Koinonia Experimental Music Festival, Berkeley, CA
PORTHOLES,
CD/digital album of nine compositions created in collaboration with German improviser/vocalist
Anka Draugelates
2011
TRIPLE
POINT, for
alto saxophone doubling on soprano saxophone, and water/glass instrument,
commissioned by Michael Straus
- 70.8% Aqua Acoustic
Music Festival, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
VIOLA
MISOGI NO.1,
for viola solo
2010
AERIAL
MENAGERIE, for 4 performers on driftwood and eucalyptus
bark, commissioned by Kronos Quartet -
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, CA
CHATTERMARKS:
FIELD RECORDINGS FROM PALMER STATION, ANTARCTICA, CD/digital album,
recordings of wildlife and natural soundscapes from the
Antarctic Peninsula
TENDERSWITCH PART I: A DANCE ON THE BRINK OF
THE WORLD, created music for an outdoor site-specific performance
by Pythia Dance - Jack London
Aquatic Center, Oakland, CA
DANSE POUR LES MOUCHES, a collaborative
performance with dancers Rajendra Serber
and Stephanie Auberville, video artist Bulk Foodveyor, and musician Matt
Davidnon - The Garage, San Francisco
QUINCE MISSING, soundtrack for sections
of Rajendra Serber's dance film
FLOWN, for piano
2009
TIDES:
ESTUARY,
music for shells, mud, sand, water, salt, feathers, wood, marsh reeds,
kelp and stones- a collaboration with visual artist Rebecca
Haseltine - Western Sky Studios, Berkeley, CA; Luggage Store
Gallery, San Francisco; Illuminated Corridor at Middle Harbor Shoreline
Park, Oakland, CA
2008
NÄCHTE,
for two performers on water, sand, stones and field recordings - Mountain Computer Music
Festival, University of Montana at Missoula
STRATA, for 16-20 performers playing
natural-object instruments on two stages
and throughout the venue - Art and Place Site Symposium, University
of Montana at Missoula
ADRIAN, for out-of-tune piano
THE
PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE, THE CIRCLE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT,
soundtracks for video works by Philip
Bonner - Artist Studio at San Francisco Recycling and Disposal, Inc.
PORCUPINE
BONITA, DOLORES SUGAR HIGH, POMOLOGY,
soundtracks
for video dance films by Rajendra Serber
2007
HALINITY,
for solo performer on salt, water, shells, glass and kelp -
NWEAMO 2007 International Festival of Electro-Acoustic Music, Boulder,
CO; Hunter's Point Shipyard Open Studios, San Francisco
MUSIC
FOR ROCKS & WATER
8 works
(UMI, JIKU, HIMO, ASHIMAME, HIBAKU, SHINDOU, TENCHI and
UZUMAKI) for
amplified rocks, and sand and water instruments
- Exploratorium,
San Francisco, Luggage Store Gallery, SF;
Placespace Gallery, California College of Arts, SF;
Music for People and Thingamajigs Festival, 21 Grand, Oakland; Improv:21
Series, San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum; Palais Ideal
Festival, Chico, CA; 2+2 Series, 21 Grand, Oakland, CA
2006
SNOW,
for viola, pinecone, and shakuhachi
LINGERING, for viola and Japanese
bowl gongs
2005
ZIRAN,
for
3 players on rocks, bones, feathers, water, ice, pinecones, grass, roots,
and wood; a series of 5 pieces inspired by Tang Dynasty Chinese wilderness
poetry
- Pacific Film Archive,
Berkeley, CA; 21 Grand, Oakland, CA; New Music on the Mountain, The Mountain
Theater at Mt. Tamalpais; Field Effects 22 at 964 Natoma, San Francisco
2004
MOUNTAIN KATA,
for soprano and stones - Jazz House, Berkeley, CA; 21 Grand, Oakland,
CA
HAN SHAN TREE,
site-specific sculpture
constructed in an oak tree - Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside,
CA
LIGHT PUT CAREFULLY,
for 3 players on: glass, viola & glass, cello & glass - Luggage
Store Gallery, San Francisco; The Lab, San Francisco
2003
INSTRUMENTS
IN TREES, for arboreal materials and strings
- The Lab, San Francisco; 964 Natoma, San Francisco; Black Box Theater,
Oakland, CA; Engine 27, NY, NY
REQUIEM
(If Birds Could Speak They Couldn't Fly), solo piano
GOOD GUY BAD GUY, soundtrack
for RK Corral's space-western film
2002
FABLE,
for tape and boxspring mattress, music for a dance/theater performance
by RK Corral - The San Francisco Butoh Festival, Cowell Theater
DONA NOBIS PACEM, for five strings
and found metal percussion - Mills College, Oakland, CA
2001
GOOD
GUY BAD GUY, composed and performed music
for RK Corral’s interdisciplinary space western live performance -
The Lab, San Francisco; Highways, Santa Monica; Sushi Gallery, San Diego
1999
THE UNDERWATER FLYING MACHINE,
an interactive fountain/sculpture/cockpit - Day of Homemade Instruments
at Lincoln Center, NY, NY
EENIE
MACY AND THE 10 STEP PROGRAM, composed and performed music for
RK Corral’s interdisciplinary performance - The Lab, San Francisco;
Highways, Santa Monica; Seattle Fringe Festival
BAHINI, for solo cello or solo viola
- New Music North, Thunder Bay, Ontario (performed in 2004)
1998
NAKED, for piano
- Noe Valley Ministry, San Francisco, also performed at Mills College,
Oakland (1999); Spruce Street Gallery, San Diego (1999); Greenwich House,
NYC (1999); Goodspeed Hall, University of Chicago (1999)
SNORKEL, for 4 players of water and
clarinets, and tape - The Lab, San Francisco
17,435 FEET, for viola
GRASS, for 10 or more players on blades
of grass
SHOES, for 1 performer, 1 stranger,
and a pair of shoes
BOXE, for amplified boxspring mattress
and tape - Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
1997
TOPOS, for four
players on glass - The Lab, San Francisco, and The Yellow Room, Oakland,
also performed at Beyond Baroque Literary Center, Venice, CA (1998), Big
Sur Experimental Music Festival, Henry Miller Library (2000)
A HISTORY OF INSECTS, for erhu, viola,
cello, bass, and four percussionists - Cell Performance Space, San Francisco
1996
DREAM ABOUT FLYING,
for 14 accordions - Bay Area Awards Show, New Langton Arts, San Francisco;
also performed at OPUS 415, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
(1998)
THE MAKING-SMASHING MACHINE: A LIVING VESSEL,
a sculpture with interactive music, collaboration with Swedish sculptor
Anna Hallin - Nexus Gallery, Berkeley; Works Gallery, San Jose; Mills
College MFA Exhibition
UNTITLED PIANO PIECE BASED ON A GYPSY FOLK SONG,
piano - National Association of Composers, Palo Alto Cultural Center
DANCE BEFORE YOU CALCIFY, for viola,
tape and butoh movement, with video by George Robbins - Society for Electro-Acoustic
Music in the United States National Conference at Birmingham-Southern
College, Birmingham, AL
NETHER, for Bb clarinet and tape processed
foghorn sounds - Mills College, Oakland, CA