The music of composer Leonardo Dugan, pioneering in its fusion of contemporary style and classical form, has been hailed by critics as “jazz-inflected” as well as “melodic and accessible,” and for making the listener “more inclined to give contemporary composers a chance.”

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s doctoral program in composition, he has been commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Julliard School, Orchestra 2001, Piano4, and others.

Recent Works: The Journey Home

Recent works include a set of two songs for baritone and piano commemorating World War I: In Flanders Fields, commissioned by the General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the U.S., and I Have a Rendezvous with Death, commissioned by the Juilliard School. The set was premiered by Grammy Award winning baritone John Brancy and pianist and host of NPR’s From the Top Peter Dugan at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and has recently been released on their album The Journey Home. 

Recent Works: The Decade Cycle and more

Other recent works include “Forty” and “Forty-one,” the first two songs of a multimedia song cycle entitled The Decade Cycle, performed and produced by the composer, and Prestidigitation and Thaumaturgy, a jazz/classical double concerto commissioned by the New Albany Symphony Orchestra and premiered by the NASO with Peter Dugan and violinist Charles Yang of Time for Three.

Upcoming Works: All is Fair and others

Dugan’s major work in progress is the three-act comic opera All is Fair; he is also working on the recording and production of the second and third movements of The Decade Cycle as well as a jazz piano instructional method book entitled Dr. D’s Jazz Piano Method.

As arranger/orchestrator

As an arranger, Dugan has collaborated with legendary singer/songwriter Jesse Colin Young of the Youngbloods, baritone John Brancy and the Kansas City Symphony, violinist Charles Yang, and tenor Ben Gulley, among others.

As educator

Dugan is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Haverford College, and has appeared several times as a guest lecturer for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Pre-Concert Conversations series. He resides in West Chester, PA, with his wife Lauren and their two sets of twins, and teaches private lessons in piano, saxophone, guitar, and composition at the Malvern School of Music and Holy Child Academy.