Born in London of Anglo-Indian decent, Leo Geyer is a young composer, conductor, and presenter. He enjoys a busy and diverse career composing and conducting opera, dance, film and concert music. Following his traineeship at the BBC, Leo has recently entered the broadcasting world as a music presenter for radio and television. 

 

Leo has received various accolades for composition, the most recent of which is the Lord Mayor’s Composition Prize. His music has been described by The Times as “imaginative and beautifully shaped” and has received performances by ensembles including the English Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Rambert Dance Company, and Opera North. Leo is currently working on his first major film commission, creating a soundtrack for the Ukrainian silent film Man with a Movie Camera. He has also established a reputation for his reimaginings, which creatively engage with music of the past. This ranges from reduced orchestrations of opera to largescale re-compositions including adding a symphony chorus to Elgar’s Enigma Variations to provide a possible solution to the “enigma puzzle”. Leo is currently studying for a doctorate in opera-ballet composition as the Senior Music Scholar at St Catherine’s College, Oxford.

 

Leo began his conducting career at the Royal Opera House as a Cover Conductor for The Royal Ballet. Described by James Murphy, CEO of the Royal Philharmonic Society as “one of the great young British conductors to watch”, Leo has worked as a guest conductor with the BBC Concert Orchestra, English National Opera, Birmingham Contemporary Music Ensemble, the National Theatre, Ensemble 212 (USA), AUT (Denmark) and other ensembles.

 

When he was 19, Leo founded an orchestra which has now grown to become Constella OperaBallet – the world’s only company dedicated to the fusion of opera and ballet. Leo has brought together internationally renowned artists in numerous critically acclaimed performances across the UK. This includes radio and television broadcasts, such as the production of Leo’s comic opera-ballet Sideshows, hailed by Opera magazine as "anarchic fairground fun". Constella’s output also includes Connecting Stars, which provides, live, virtual and participatory performances for care home residents nationwide. At the last count, Constella had performed for 16,500 of the most vulnerable people throughout the UK in 1,500 intimate bespoke performances.

 

Last year, Leo began his training as a presenter on the BBC Open Music Programme with Katie Derham as his mentor. He made his debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Concert Orchestra, for a BBC Proms performance broadcast live on Radio 3. Since then, Leo has appeared on BBC Radio and Sky Arts, and is creating documentary film documentary with Two Rivers Media and Constella for BBC One.

 

London-born, Leo studied at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music on the Joint Course, graduating with two first class degrees and The Soroptimist International of Manchester Award for Composers/Conductors. As part of his studies, Leo also attended the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts to study conducting with Uroš Lajovic.