Leonid Galaganov

Leonid Galaganov is a New York City based composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist from a Russian Old Ritualist settlement in Estonia. Shaped by an eclectic background in jazz, classical, world and spiritual music, his music feeds on a broad range of both traditional and experimental influences.

Since moving to NYC in 2012, Leonid has premiered original and collaborative music at venues like Roulette, Cornelia Street Cafe, The Stone, Judson Church, Clemente Soto Velez, Downtown Music Gallery, along with performances at the Vision Festival and the Rubin Museum. Frequent co-creators include William Parker, Kyoko Kitamura, Daniel Carter, Zack Clarke, Aquiles Navarro and many others, and he is a member of the chamber jazz quartet Jump Off This Bridge. Leonid has received commissions from the American Modern Ensemble, Cassatt String Quartet and Ensemble Mise-En. Featured on 20 record releases, he has also done interdisciplinary work with dance, poetry, theater, film, paintings, and has toured around Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, the UK and the US.

Leonid is currently pursuing a PhD in composition at SUNY Stony Brook where his research is mainly focused on microtonality, multichannel spatialization and the exploration of new structures for improvisation. He has examined these subjects in the pieces of other composers as well as his own, giving presentations at the international symposium “Mikrotöne: Small is beautiful”, Manhattan International Composers’ Conference, SUNY Stony Brook and the Estonian Academy of Music. Previously, Leonid studied orchestral conducting at Tallinn University and holds a BM in jazz studies from NYU as well as a MM in composition from SUNY Purchase College.

In his present performance practice Leonid uses the drum kit, shakuhachi, waterphone, live processing, the EJI keyboard*, prepared piano, hand drums and other percussion instruments.