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Mr. Leonovich was born in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 25, 1984. He moved to the United States with his family in 1994, at age 9, and began his musical studies at the age of 11. His fascination with music did not stop at performance; Leonovich began composing at 12, now having over 60 works attributed to his name. At 15 he started playing Klezmer clarinet, culminating at a performance at Carnegie Hall, with the Kidz Klez of Michigan, in July of 2003, under the direction the late Cantor Stephen Dubov.
Mr. Leonovich has studied with Stephen Geber: retired principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra; Robert deMaine: principal cellist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; and Marcy Chanteaux: asst. principal cellist of the Detroit Symphony. Yuriy studied composition with Dr. James Hartway.
Leonovich holds a B.M. (Magna Cum Laude) from Wayne State University of Detroit; an M.M. from Cleveland Institute of Music; and is currently working on a D.M.A. at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Stephen Geber. Leonovich performed a Cleveland premiere of Aram Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsody on March 31, 2010, as soloist with Kimbo Ishii-Eto and the CIM symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Leonovich frequently performs his own works and arrangements. His compositions have also been performed by the members of the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as pianist Elizabeth DeMio, the members of Belgium’s Spirale Piano Trio, cellist Eugena Chang (Minnesota Orchestra), trumpeter Chris Stingle (Curtis Institute), and violinist Monty Bloom (Eastman School of Music).
As an orchestral cellist, Leonovich has played under conductors Gerard Schwarz, Gerhardt Zimmermann, Itzhak Perlman, Carl Topilow, Andris Nelsons, Jose-Luis Novo and Andres Cardenas.
In 2006, Leonovich completed Tchaikovsky’s Cello Concerto in B minor. The article can be found at www.tchaikovsky-research.org.