Dr. Leah Reid (b. 1985) is a New Hampshire-born composer, sound artist, researcher, and educator, whose works range from opera, chamber, and vocal music, to acousmatic, electroacoustic works, and interactive sound installations. Her primary research interests involve the perception, modeling, and compositional applications of timbre. In her works, timbre acts as a catalyst for exploring new soundscapes, time, space, perception, and color. In recent reviews, Reid’s works have been described as “immersive”, “haunting”, and “shimmering”.
Reid was a 2022 Guggenheim fellow and received first prizes in 6th International “New Vision” Composition Competition “Galaxies” in memory of Nicolaus Copernicus, the 8th KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, Musicworks’ Electronic Music Composition Contest, the Tesselat Electronic Music Competition, and the Franz Schubert Conservatory International Composer Competition. She has also won the American Prize in Composition (Vocal Chamber Music Division), Sound of the Year’s Composed with Sound Award, the Film Score Award in Frame Dance Productions’ Music Composition Competition, the International Alliance for Women in Music’s Pauline Oliveros Award, and second prizes in the Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition and the 13th International Destellos Competition. She has received fellowships from the Guerilla Opera Company, Transient Canvas, Copland House, the Hambidge Center, MacDowell, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), the Ucross Foundation, and Yaddo.
Reid has worked with and received commissions from ensembles such as Accordant Commons, Blow Up Percussion, Concavo & Convesso, Ensemble Móbile, Guerilla Opera, the Jack Quartet, McGill’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, Neave Trio, Sound Gear, Talea, and Yarn/Wire. Her compositions have been presented at festivals, conferences, and in major venues throughout the world, including Aveiro_Síntese (Portugal), BEAST FEaST (England), Espacios Sonoros (Argentina), EviMus (Germany), Forgotten Spaces: EuroMicrofest (Germany), the International Computer Music Conference (USA, Ireland & Chile), IRCAM’s ManiFeste (France), LA Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight (USA), the Matera Intermedia Festival (Italy), the New York City Electronic Music Festival (USA), the OUA Electroacoustic Music Festival (Japan), the San Francisco Tape Music Festival (USA), Série de Música de Câmara (Brazil), the Society of Composers National Conference (USA), Soochow New Voice Concert Series (China), the Sound and Music Computing Conference (Germany), the Tilde New Music Festival (Australia), the Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium (Canada), and the Workshop on Computer Music and Audio Technology (Taiwan), among many others. Her works are published with Ablaze Records, Cero Records, New Focus Recordings, Parma Recordings, RMN Classical, and BabelScores.
She is Vice President of the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM), VP for Programs and Projects for the Society of Electroacoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), and Boston New Music Initiative’s (BNMI) Artistic Director.
Reid received her D.M.A. and M.A. in music composition from Stanford University and her B.Mus from McGill University. Reid’s principal teachers include Mark Applebaum, Jonathan Berger, Brian Ferneyhough, Sean Ferguson, Ana Sokolovic, and Brian Paul Harman.
Reid splits her time between Massachusetts and Virginia, living with her husband, son, and two dogs. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA), where she teaches courses in music composition and technology. She has also taught at Stanford University (Stanford, CA), University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA), and at the University of Silicon Valley (San Jose, CA).
Leah Reid’s new work Clatter for Percussion Quartet will be premiered by the 2025 Ensemble-in-Residence, Excelsis Percussion, at our 2025 Festival.