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| Mary Jane Leach |
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| Mary Jane Leach is a composer/performer from Vermont who has lived in New York since the mid-1970’s. Her work reveals a fascination with the physicality of sound, its acoustic properties and how they interact with space. In many of her works Leach creates an other-worldly sound environment using difference, combination, and interference tones; these are tones not actually sounded by the performers, but acoustic phenomena arising from Leach’s deft manipulation of intonation and timbral qualities. The result is striking music which has a powerful effect on listeners. Critics have commented on her ability to "offer a spiritual recharge without the banalities of the new mysticism" (Detroit Free Press), evoking "a visionary quest for inner peace" (Vice Versa Magazine), and "an irridescent lingering sense of suspended time." (Musicworks Magazine) |
| Leach’s music has been performed throughout the world in a variety of settings, from the concert stage to experimental music forums, and in collaboration with dance and theatre artists. In recent years Leach has received considerable acclaim for her choral music, which is featured on two CD releases on the XI and New World labels. Drawing on inspirations as diverse as Monteverdi, Bruckner, and 14th century Ars Nova, these pieces "enliven a choral repertoire starved for good contemporary work." (Village Voice). Several are published by C.F. Peters.
Leach has been commissioned by many notable ensembles, including Rel?che, The Downtown Ensemble, Newband, and the New York Treble Singers, and by soloists such as Sarah Cahill, Guy Klucevsek, Shannon Peet, and Libby Van Cleve. She has received commissioning awards from the American Composers Forum, the NEA, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, and many other funders. |
| Recordings of her work are on the Lovely Music, New World, XI, Wave/Eva, and Aerial compact disc labels. On the radio, her music has been featured by First Art, John Schaeffer’s New Sounds, CBC (Canada), Radio Cultura in Sao Paulo, and by several stations in Europe. Writing about her work has appeared in several books: American Music in the Twentieth Century by Kyle Gann, Het Tweede Thema: Of de verwaarloosde geschiedenis van de componerende vrouw by Simonne Claeys, La musica minimalista by Paolo Conteni and Giovanni Antognozzi, and The New Generation of Mystery/Kunstler des XXI. Jahrhunderts by Maria de Alvear. Her scores have been published in Soundings, Ear Magazine, and logosblad, and she has been featured in articles in Pulse!, Option Magazine, K?lnische Rundschau, logosblad, and on German television.
In 1995 Leach was selected for a prestigious grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, which was established by Jasper Johns and John Cage to support innovative artists in the performing arts. |
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| http://www.mjleach.com |
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