Leo Gevisser

Based in New York City, composer and performer Leo Gevisser earned his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from The Juilliard School with academic honors. He is a Young Steinway Artist. Last year, he received the 2nd Prize (Caisse des Dépôts) at the 16th Concours International de Piano d’Orléans, also receiving the Public Prize, Elliott Carter Prize, and the Henri Dutilleux–Geneviève Joy Residency in France. He is also the recipient of First Prize in Juilliard’s Mieczysław Munz Scholarship Competition and has appeared in series and venues including the Sparkill Recital Series, Yale School of Music’s New Music New Haven, and Harvard College. Raised in Cape Town, he remains closely connected to South Africa, where he has performed with major orchestras including the Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal, and Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestras, alongside recital tours across the country.

For piano students who are just starting out, I generally assign some pieces from Burnam's A Dozen a Day, as well as some Grieg Lyric Pieces. From this, (i.e. from the intermediate level), I cater to the student's interests regarding what they'd like to play and expand on that, while simultaneously keeping repertoire choices developmental to their individual approach to the keyboard. I like to coach composition and improvisation hand in hand---in other words, I coach both practices as complementing one another. This, of course, depends on the individual and the idea. Subjects include long-form improvisation on the piano, as well as training students on skills with the Ableton DAW software.