On Stage at Curtis Archives - Curtis Institute of Music

The acclaimed composer and Curtis alumna discusses her musical upbringing, the elements of composing, her orchestral works, and her love of Björk

“It’s very strange spending so much time imagining something in my head—I’ll play it on the piano or parts of it on the violin—but it’s not the same as working with live musicians and hearing them bring it to life. The time period when I’m in my head is very solitary and hypothetical, and that’s the least favorite part because it’s still in my imagination. Then, once I actually hear people work on it and bring their own musicality to the piece, then it’s alive, and that’s so rewarding.” —Leigha Amick

Season 18 of WHYY’s acclaimed On Stage at Curtis series featured a portrait of rising young composer and Curtis alumna Leigha Amick (’24). The Boulder, Colorado native entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021, studied composition with Richard Danielpour, Nick DiBerardino, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Steven Mackey, and was recently honored with the prestigious Provost’s Award for Outstanding Citizenship during the school’s 2024 commencement, where she received her Master of Music degree. Before her time in Philadelphia, she received a bachelor’s in composition with highest distinction at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and completed minors in mathematics and electronic music.

Click HERE to watch the On Stage at Curtis episode, or click the video below.

From an early age, Ms. Amick sang often around the house and soon discovered she had a distinct knack for creating melodies. Her parents recognized her gifts, got her a piano, enrolled her in lessons, and took her to the Colorado Music Festival and orchestra concerts in Boulder, further igniting an interest in classical music. As a child, Ms. Amick expressed a desire to attend music camp for piano but noticed a scholarship for composition. Up for the challenge, she orchestrated one of her piano sketches for string orchestra and was accepted, soon realizing that her hobby could become a viable career. After receiving praise for the piece, she revised it during her freshman year of high school and submitted it to a competition, ultimately winning an opportunity for it to be played by the Orlando Philharmonic.

During these years, her teachers encouraged her to write pieces for her middle and high school orchestras, and as Ms. Amick continued her studies, she found herself torn between pursuing degrees in math and music. While she enjoyed participating in mathematics competitions her love of music won out, and she went on to study composition.

In 2022, New Voices Opera premiered Rhiannon’s Condemnation, a one-act chamber opera based on a medieval Welsh legend from the Mabinogion for which Ms. Amick wrote both the libretto and the music. Here is a 2020 recording of the work, from her senior composition recital at Indiana University.

Each morning, Ms. Amick spends time writing at the piano, playing and singing things to herself. Then, as a piece comes along, she solidifies sections and enters the whole work into her computer. The rest of the day, she spends time exploring the work of other composers and studying counterpoint, gaining perspective and inspiration for her own work. Ms. Amick says she finds no greater joy than being fully immersed in the physicality of making music.

In this episode of On Stage at Curtis, Ms. Amick discusses two of her original orchestral compositions. The first piece, Cascade, is loosely inspired by composer Carl Stone’s 2018 piece for organ and electronics, which begins with disparate, off-kilter rhythms and sounds, and gradually morphs into the most transcendent thing. The second work, Gossamer Depths, was inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope’s breathtaking image of the Orion Nebula. Huge chords span the full range of the orchestra, from the piccolo to the contrabassoon, representing the vastness of the nebula, with fast swirling lines in the strings and winds, representing swirls of space dust in the nebula, and accented notes in the winds, brass, and percussion embodying the stars of the piece.

Visit Leigha Amick’s official website. Read a Curtis interview with Ms. Amick from 2022 HERE.

Portraits of Ms. Amick courtesy of Nicole MCH Photography. Photo of Ms. Amick composing by Kirsten Boyer.