David Leisner, winner of the Leyenda Foundation’s 2026 Celedonio Romero Lifetime Achievement Award, is an extraordinarily versatile musician with a multi-faceted career as a performing artist, composer and teacher. “Among the finest guitarists of all time”, according to American Record Guide, Leisner is a featured recording artist for the Azica label, with 11 highly acclaimed solo CDs. His recent recordings of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin with baritone Michael Kelly (Bright Shiny Things) and his solo album for Azica, Charms to Soothe, featuring early 19^th-century music, garnered rave reviews. His latest album for Azica, a recordings of works he commissioned, called Dedications, is scheduled for release in November 2025. Other recordings are on the Naxos, Telarc and Koch labels, with a concert DVD published by Mel Bay. David Leisner’s recent seasons have taken him around the US, a major tour of Australia and New Zealand, and debuts and reappearances in China, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, the U.K., Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. An innovative three-concert series at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall included the first all-Bach guitar recital in New York’s history, and for 12 years, he was the Artistic Director of Guitar Plus, a New York series devoted to chamber music with the guitar. Celebrated for expanding the guitar repertoire, David Leisner has premiered and commissioned works by many important composers, including David Del Tredici, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Philip Glass, Richard Rodney Bennett, Peter Sculthorpe and Osvaldo Golijov. His recent Pandemic Commissions project elicited works from Pierre Jalbert, Laura Kaminsky, Chester Biscardi, Bun-Ching Lam and João Luiz. He has also spearheaded the revival of neglected 19^th-century composers, J.K. Mertz and Wenzeslaus Matiegka. He has performed at the Santa Fe, Rockport, Vail Valley, Bargemusic, Bay Chamber, Cape Cod and Islands, Maui, Portland, Sitka, Music in the Vineyards, Crested Butte and Angel Fire chamber music festivals.

Mr. Leisner is also a highly respected composer, noted for the emotional and dramatic power of his music. Fanfare magazine described it as “rich in invention and melody, emotionally direct, and beautiful”, and Textura praised its “arresting melodic character, emotional depth, and dramatic sweep”. His music has been performed worldwide by eminent soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras.  An extensive discography includes the much-praised Cedille CD, Acrobats, performed by the Cavatina Duo, and Letter to the World, an album of his vocal chamber music. His compositions are published by Theodore Presser Co. and Dobermann-Ypann. Recent works and commissions include a guitar concerto, Wayfaring for Pepe Romero and the New American Sinfonietta, Singing to the Stars for soprano, violin, saxophone and 2 guitars for the New Music Festival at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Pranayama for the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Love Dreams of the Exile for the Cavatina Duo and the Avalon Quartet and Das Wunderbare Wesen for baritone Wolfgang Holzmair and solo cello.

A distinguished teacher as well, Leisner is currently on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and taught for over two decades at the New England Conservatory. His book about ergonomic guitar technique, Playing with Ease, is published by Oxford University Press. Primarily self-taught as both guitarist and composer, he briefly studied guitar with John Duarte, David Starobin and Angelo Gilardino and composition with Richard Winslow, Virgil Thomson, Charles Turner and David Del Tredici.

PRESENTERS:  FOR BIOS OF SHORTER AND LONGER LENGTHS, AS WELL AS HI-RES PHOTOS, PLEASE BE IN TOUCH DIRECTLY WITH MR. LEISNER VIA THE CONTACT PAGE.