Aiming to break the boundaries between the visceral and the intellectual, composer Diego Leyva combines intensity, textural nuance, and sonic experimentation to craft works that are at once deeply personal and universally resonant. His compositions often fuse traditional and contemporary techniques, engaging with themes of memory, transformation, and the intricacies of human emotion. Diego earned his Bachelor’s in Composition from the University of Arizona, studying under Yuanyuan (Kay) He and Vincent Calianno, and is currently pursuing his Master’s in Composition at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where he studies with acclaimed composer Michael Hersch. At Peabody, he continues to push the boundaries of his craft, engaging in an intensive dialogue with silence, dissonance, and vulnerability.

With interdisciplinary collaboration being one of his primary focuses, his piece Three Noble Children was selected out of a pool of applicants to be performed at the TURN UP Multimedia Festival, where he collaborated with various visual artists, and he was commissioned to compose scores for two student films. Diego plans to pursue his doctorate in composition, with ambitions of becoming a professor and most importantly, a musician capable of bringing people together in a time where division runs rampant.