CHERYL E. LEONARD

Glass shards and pinecones, glaciers, boxspring mattresses, a flock of accordions, circular saw blades, viola, the erhu, hyenas and whales and elk, CHERYL E. LEONARD's music finds its raw materials just about anywhere. From these diverse sources come works that embrace the spectrum of musical possibilities: improvised to composed, acoustic to electronic, diaphanous to bombastic, notes to noise. Many of Leonard's works explore subtle textures and intricacies in sounds not generally considered musical. These investigations often include the creation of instruments, primarily from found materials. Her other major interests include collaboration across artistic disciplines, site-specific compositions and instruments, guerrilla performance, and developing new relationships between artists and audiences.

Cheryl holds a BA from Hampshire College and an MA from Mills College, both in music composition. She has studied composition and electronic music with Alvin Curran, Chris Brown, George Lewis, Frederic Rzewski, Laeticia Sonami, Salvatore Maccia, and Alan Bonde; and performance art with Moira Roth, Carole E. Schneemann, and Betsy Damon.

Cheryl Leonard performed at the Activating the Medium festivals in 1998 and 2010. She also contributed to the Interference compilation published by 23five in 1994.

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