Brandon Leonard, Class of 2023

Biography

Brandon Leonard is an eighteen-year-old cellist from Stone Mountain, Georgia. He studied with Karen Freer of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) for nearly 7 years when he was a fellow with the ASO Talent Development Program. He currently studies with Natasha Brofsky at The Juilliard School as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. He has attended summer music camps at the Atlanta Chamber Music Festival, the Tanglewood Junior Strings Intensive program, the Center Stage Strings program, and the Morningside Music Bridge festival.

He received 1st place in the Georgia Philharmonic Samuel Fordis Young Artists Competition and the Hilton Head Concerto Competition. This past year he received 3rd prize in the Ronald Sachs International Music Competition and was selected as a semifinalist in the 2022 Johansen International String Competition. As a member of the Sycamore Trio, he won 1st prize at WDAV’s Young Chamber Musicians Competition and 2nd prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2022. Most recently, he won 1st prize in the 26th Annual National Sphinx Competition Jr. Division.