Originally from Whakatū Nelson, Jessie Leov (MMus) is an award-winning composer and musician currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Her work has been commissioned, performed or workshopped by groups across Aotearoa and beyond including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, NZTrio, Auckland Chamber Choir, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Youth Choir, Creative Waikato, Red Scare Theatre Company (WGTN), and Celebris Ensemble (USA).
In 2022 Jessie was selected to receive an APRA Professional Development Award as well as being awarded first place in the Open Category of the Compose Aotearoa! national choral composition competition, run by the Choirs Aotearoa NZ Foundation. As recipient of the 2020 SOUNZ Community Commission, Jessie collaborated with the Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus over a period of nine months to compose a new work for upper voices, which premiered at the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts in 2021.
With a diverse background in the music industry, Jessie draws on a wide range of influences which collectively inform her compositional practice. Spanning choral, orchestral, theatre, chamber, and solo works, her writing prioritises worldbuilding through sound, alongside a sensitive approach to colour and texture. She has explored innovative forms of graphic notation in her work, including in her choral work nunc dimittis which was awarded the 2020 Douglas Mews Composition Prize, and orchestral work marble, bark, silver, recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the 2022 NZ Composer Sessions in Wellington.
2023 will see her undertake a year-long creative residency with the Auckland-based Ockham Collective, as well as leading a Creatives in Schools project in collaboration with Pukekohe High School.
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Visit Jessie’s SOUNZ Composer profile.
