Kevin Leysath II

Kevin Leysath II is a music composer and saxophonist born in 2001 in Rochester, NY where he has been surrounded by music his whole life. His melodic style reflects his love for
film music and catchy heartfelt themes whether it is sorrowful, or joyful.
At 6 years old Kevin was crying while watching a movie and when his father asked him why he was sad, he had no answer. Later in life during his teenage years Kevin reflected on that
moment's significance. He came to the conclusion, that was his epiphany moment. As for that moment and being in various music activities at a young age like taking lessons in guitar, violin and being in a choir at the Hochstein school, he knew writing music was his calling. Kevin currently studies Music Composition at Nazareth College School of music. After
academia he wants to pursue a career in Film scoring. During the summer of 2021 Kevin participated in the Screen Music Program that was run by Poalo Fosso for emerging composers. Film and video game composers such as Inon Zur, Clint Bajakian, Poalo Tortiglione and Alison Plante gave him critical information and advice to better his craft in all aspects of Film scoring.
His current film composer role models, Ludwig Göransson, Dustin O'halloran, and Kris Bowers have helped him learn and appreciate how music fits with film. To also gain more experience he collaborates with Animators and filmmakers from the Rochester Institute of Technology every semester to write music for their films. Kevin has also composed music ranging from a Piano Sonata to brass quartet music to Electronic and Hip Hop instrumental beats. He mainly loves writing for strings, especially the cello because of how beautifully the instrument sounds and how it can in some cases resemble a voice. His love for listening and writing for cello comes from one of his favorite classical composers, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912). Coleridge-Taylor was an African American composer from London, England who famously was known for his three cantatas on the epic poem, Song of Hiawatha and his arrangement of Deep River for cello and piano. Kevin paid tribute to Coleridge-Taylor by composing a cello and piano piece called African Mahler in his honor. This piece will premiere in December of 2021.