composers now impact series
Little time in some detail
This is a work for improviser and orchestra which combines the broad palette of contemporary orchestral textures with the energy of improvised music. On a large scale, it sets the spontaneous expression of the soloist in counterpoint with the predetermined narrative of the orchestra. While the material of the orchestra is fixed, it was composed to have an intuitive feel, focusing on the expansions of tiny sounds, timbral juxtapositions and manipulations of time perception.
Listen on Bandcamp:
Selected Video
bells in placelessness
Aquiles Navarro and Leonid Galaganov improvise within a predetermined structure in Bells in Placelessness , which premiered at the Stony Brook Composers concert on April 19th, 2022.
Movements to the center of a dream
The second of nine movements from a piece titled Movements to the Center of a Dream. Featuring dancer Yoshiko Chuma, it premiered at SUNY Purchase on November 12th, 2018.
transient values
Transient Values was written for the American Modern Ensemble and premiered at Mostly Modern Festival on June 21st, 2019.
time & variations
Time and Variations was conceptualized and produced by Leonid Galaganov as an audiovisual collaboration between Jump Off This Bridge and musicWitness. It premiered on the Soup & Sound Online festival on December 9th, 2020.
Selected Audio
From jones beach – to long beach
Kyoko Kitamura – voice
Leonid Galaganov – shakuhachi, percussion
recurring fantasy
loadbang ensemble:
Andy Kozar – trumpet
Jeffrey Gavett – voice
William Lang – trombone
Adrián Sandí – bass clarinet
Aeonian arrival
Leonid Galaganov – shakuhachi, EJI keyboard*, percussion
Very safe inner voices
Kaleb Lewis – French horn
Brian Olson – trumpet
Justin Smiley-Oyen – trumpet
Oliver Barrett – trombone
Mike Stanton – trombone
Oliver Barrett – trombone
Alexandra Lamastra – piano
Katherine Miller – piano
inner gesture
Here's a recording of a piece from rehearsal that juxtaposes written material with open sections of conducted improvisations within a set form and harmonic structure. It was written and recorded in November 2017 with Sana Nagano, Leonor Falcon Pasquali and Chris Irvine on strings and Nick Gianni, Guillermo Gregorio, Claire de Brunner, Michael Lytle, Lee Odom, Josh Sinton, Brian Groder and Ben Stapp on winds.
empty suit
An excerpt from a live performance at 65 Fen music series with Sana Nagano, Jordan Morton, Lester St Louis and Daro Behroozi in July 2016. This composition combines traditional notation with sections where note durations are synchronized with the performers’ breath cycles. Turning the ensemble's collective breath into sound, this concept informs the rhythms of the music by the physical and emotional states of the performers in the moment.
Ghost Machine r
Leonid Galaganov – percussion
for 3 susteinways
For 3 Susteinways is a piece created from layers of sustained sounds on an antique Steinway baby grand piano.
Leonid Galaganov – prepared piano
detailed correspondence
Detailed Correspondence was conceptualized as a counterpoint of 5 narratives, each recorded in isolation from other voices following individual instructions relating to a timeline, and layering the results together into a multi-dimensional soundscape. It was recorded in October 2017 at separate locations in NYC and Tallinn, Estonia and it features Anais Maviel on vocals, Misha Panfilov on guitar and sonic collage, Zack Clarke on electronics, Leonid on shakuhachi and Volodja Brodsky sampling all of the above.
just minor manipulations
Tape manipulations.
old scores recycled
ASMR sound collage
one eventual time when
A brief excerpt from an upcoming album with Billy Drewes, Zack Clarke and Drew Gress. Leonid gathered this quartet to explore varying degrees of instruction, and the album concept features 11 different approaches to organization of improvisation.
precarious gil
The trio with Zack Clarke on piano and Evan Crane on bass has been playing regular sessions of standards, free improvised and original music since 2013. Precarious Gil is a tune that Leonid brought to their recording session at Wombat Studios in Brooklyn on a rainy day in May 2017.
At the kitchen
A take from one of the numerous sessions played at Francois Grillot's Kitchen. With Francois, Rich Rosenthal, and Nick Lyons.
parker/maviel/galaganov
This trio with William Parker and Anais Maviel grew out of regular collaborations on rituals of healing music...
Jazz Sextet
These are some excerpts from a live performance at Black Box Theater in Greenwich Village with Anna Webber, Nicole Davis, Ricardo Ospina Duque, Nathaniel Vito and Shawn Lovato in June 2016.
Leibson/crane/galaganov
A couple of home recordings from jazz sessions at Leonid's with Santiago Leibson on piano and Evan Crane on bass.