Originally from Whakatū Nelson, Jessie Leov (MMus) is a composer, songwriter and musician currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her work has been commissioned, performed or workshopped by groups across Aotearoa and beyond, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, NZTrio, Auckland Chamber Choir, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Auckland Youth Choir, Creative Waikato, Red Scare Theatre Company (WGTN) and Celebris Ensemble (USA).

With a diverse background in the industry, Jessie draws on a wide range of influences which collectively inform her practice. Spanning choral, orchestral, theatre, chamber music and solo works, Jessie’s compositional work has seen her collaborate with various arts practitioners and organisations. As recipient of the 2020 SOUNZ Community Commission, Jessie collaborated with the Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus over a period of nine months to compose a new work for upper voices, Call of the Ocean. In 2021 she was commissioned by Creative Waikato to create a new work for their Kotahitanga: United Through Creativity initiative, which was exhibited at the University of Waikato Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts gallery space.

Jessie has explored innovative forms of graphic notation in her compositional work, including in her choral work nunc dimittis which was awarded the 2020 Douglas Mews Composition Prize, and her orchestral work marble, bark, silver which was recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the 2022 NZ Composer Sessions in Wellington. In 2022 Jessie was the recipient of an APRA Professional Development Award as well as being awarded first place in the Open Category of the Compose Aotearoa! national competition for choral composition, run by the Choirs Aotearoa NZ Foundation. In 2023 she is leading a Creatives-in-Schools project at Pukekohe High School, helping students to develop their songwriting craft.

Jessie plans to use the Ockham Collective spaces for collaborative sessions with fellow composers, songwriters and musicians, as a creative workspace to work on new projects, applications and proposals, and for rehearsals with her acoustic duo AVA & LEOV and other musical groups she is involved with.

www.jessieleov.nz