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About
Born and raised in Los Angeles, he moved to the East Coast in 1971 to attend Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where his composition teacher was Richard Winslow. He later worked privately with Virgil Thomson, Charles Turner and David Del Tredici. While his early musical interests involved folk/popular song, choral singing and choral conducting, his talent as a classical guitarist took prominence, and an international career ensued. Although composing was a part of his life since the age of 15, it did not take firmer hold until the period of 1984-96, when Leisner had focal dystonia, a debilitating hand condition that stopped his performance career in those years. During that time, his composition activities increased in amount, breadth and quality. After a remarkable self-induced recovery in 1996, his guitar-playing career successfully resumed, while maintaining consistent activity in composition. From his earliest song efforts in popular music until today, vocal music has played a central role in Leisner’s composition catalog.
While a number of his vocal works are with guitar (which he asserts is a natural and under-recognized combination), many are also with piano, as well as other instrumental combinations. For texts, he turns most often to American poets. Examples are: Confiding (Emily Dickinson, Elissa Ely, Gene Scaramellino and the British Emily Brontë), To Sleep (Elizabeth Bishop), Three James Tate Songs, Fidelity (May Sarton, Walt Whitman, Kenneth Patchen, William Meredith, Wendell Berry, Leslie Marmon Silko), Of Darkness and Light (Wendell Berry) for tenor, violin, oboe and piano, A Timeless Procession (Rosemary Thomas) for baritone and string quartet, Outdoor Shadows (Robert Francis), Simple Songs (Emily Dickinson) and West Wind (Mary Oliver). His songs have found favor with singers worldwide.
He has received composition grants from the American Music Center, the Alice M. Ditson Fund, the New England Foundation for the Arts and Meet the Composer. His works are published by Theodore Presser Co., G. Schirmer, Doberman-Yppan and Columbia Music.
–www.davidleisner.com
Related Information
Songs
A Drinking Song
David Leisner
William Butler Yeats
Song Collection: O Love is the Crooked Thing
A Timeless Procession
David Leisner
Rosemary Thomas
Ample make this Bed —
David Leisner
Emily Dickinson
Song Collection: Confiding
Anniversary Song
David Leisner
Wendell Berry
Song Collection: Fidelity
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
David Leisner
Walt Whitman
Song Collection: Fidelity
Brown Penny
David Leisner
William Butler Yeats
Song Collection: O Love is the Crooked Thing
Chance Awakenings
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
William Meredith
Come with me
David Leisner
Mary Oliver
Song Collection: West Wind
Confiding
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Emily Brontë
Emily Dickinson
Elissa Ely
Gene Scaramellino
Dark is as dark does
David Leisner
Mary Oliver
Song Collection: West Wind
Down by the Salley Gardens
David Leisner
William Butler Yeats
Song Collection: O Love is the Crooked Thing
Faith
David Leisner
Emily Brontë
Song Collection: Confiding
Fidelity
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Wendell Berry
William Meredith
Kenneth Patchen
Leslie Marmon Silko
May Swenson
Walt Whitman
From an Island
David Leisner
James Tate
Song Collection: Three James Tate Songs
Heaven's River
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Rabindranath Tagore
Homeward
David Leisner
Robert Francis
Song Collection: Outdoor Shadows
I Can't Speak for the Wind
David Leisner
James Tate
Song Collection: Three James Tate Songs
Light
David Leisner
Rabindranath Tagore
Song Collection: Heaven's River
Love and Friendship
David Leisner
Emily Brontë
Song Collection: Confiding
Lullaby
David Leisner
Leslie Marmon Silko
Song Collection: Fidelity
Moon, Sun, Sleep, Birds, Live
David Leisner
Kenneth Patchen
Song Collection: Fidelity
Never Again the Same
David Leisner
James Tate
Song Collection: Three James Tate Songs
Night birds
David Leisner
Mary Oliver
Song Collection: West Wind
O My Love the Pretty Towns
David Leisner
Kenneth Patchen
Song Collection: Fidelity
O Love is the Crooked Thing
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
William Butler Yeats
Of Darkness and Light
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Wendell Berry
Our Forward Shadows
David Leisner
May Swenson
Song Collection: Fidelity
Outdoor Shadows
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Robert Francis
Row for your life
David Leisner
Mary Oliver
Song Collection: West Wind
Savior! I've no one else to tell —
David Leisner
Emily Dickinson
Song Collection: Confiding
Seagulls
David Leisner
Robert Francis
Song Collection: Outdoor Shadows
Signal
David Leisner
Gene Scaramellino
Song Collection: Confidence
Simple Songs
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Emily Dickinson
Sing a Song of Juniper
David Leisner
Robert Francis
Song Collection: Outdoor Shadows
Sleeping on the Ceiling
David Leisner
Elizabeth Bishop
Song Collection: To Sleep
Slow
David Leisner
Robert Francis
Song Collection: Outdoor Shadows
sometimes he contemplates adultery
David Leisner
William Meredith
Song Collection: Fidelity
Sonnet
David Leisner
Elizabeth Bishop
Song Collection: To Sleep
Star-Crossed
David Leisner
Elissa Ely
Song Collection: Confiding
This is my letter to the World
David Leisner
Emily Dickinson
Song Collection: Confiding
To Imagination
David Leisner
Emily Brontë
Song Collection: Confiding
To the Stream
David Leisner
Rabindranath Tagore
Song Collection: Heaven's River
The Boat
David Leisner
Rabindranath Tagore
Song Collection: Heaven's River
The Lady to Her Guitar
David Leisner
Emily Brontë
Song Collection: Confiding
The Two Trees
David Leisner
William Butler Yeats
Song Collection: O Love is the Crooked Thing
The Unbeliever
David Leisner
Elizabeth Bishop
Song Collection: To Sleep
The Wild Swans at Coole
David Leisner
William Butler Yeats
Song Collection: O Love is the Crooked Thing
Three James Tate Songs
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
James Tate
Tree Marriage
David Leisner
William Meredith
Song Collection: Fidelity
To Sleep
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Elizabeth Bishop
West Wind
Song CollectionDavid Leisner
Mary Oliver
West Wind
David Leisner
Mary Oliver
Song Collection: West Wind
Wild Needle
David Leisner
Mary Oliver
Song Collection: West Wind
Wild Nights
David Leisner
Emily Dickinson
Song Collection: Confiding
Yes, What?
David Leisner
Robert Francis
Song Collection: Outdoor Shadows
Recordings
Crazy Jane
(George Crumb, David Leisner and John Musto)
2010
Sheet Music
Heaven's River
Composer(s): David Leisner
Song(s): 1. The Boat
2. Light
3. To the Stream
O Love Is The Crooked Thing
Composer(s): David Leisner
Song(s): 1. Down by the Salley Gardens
2. The Two Trees
3. A Drinking Song
4. The Wild Swans at Coole
5. Brown Penny
Outdoor Shadows
Composer(s): David Leisner
Song(s): 1. Slow
2. Homeward
3. Yes, What?
4. Seagulls
5. Sing a Song of Juniper
Simple Songs
Composer(s): David Leisner
Song(s): 1. Exultation
2. Beauty
3. Madness
4. Letter
5. Humility
6. Simplicity
Three James Tate Songs
Composer(s): David Leisner
Song(s): 1. I Can't Speak for the Wind
2. Never Again the Same
3. From an Island
Voice Type: Medium
Buy via the Theodore Presser CompanyTo Sleep
Composer(s): David Leisner
Song(s): 1. Sleeping on the Ceiling
2. The Unbeliever
3. Sonnet