LEILA ADUall categories
I just got back from the experimental music festival Woodstockhausen at the Turquoise Barn in upstate New York, singing with the Snyderphonics Vocodec FX pedal with Paul Geluso on microtonal horn!
Earlier in July, I had an awesome show with Eliot Krimsky for Sadie Powers’ album release at Brooklyn’s Sleepwalk.
Aotearoa/New Zealand contemporary classical ensemble, Stroma, premières my composition for string trio “Heaven Is Life” featuring Tibetan Buddhist nun chants, at Public Trust Hall, Wednesday, August 27.
I stayed with the generous and kind Tibetan Buddhist nuns at Karma Chokor Dechen Nunnery in Rumtek, Sikkim, India in April this year, and recorded their chants and ceremonies. Part of this commission from Stroma is donated directly to the nuns, who look after the ‘small nuns,’ children in their care.
Heaven & Earth marks 25 years of Stroma’s fearless exploration of sound and spirit since our inaugural concert “Wind, Rain & Light” in August 2000. We recall the theme of that first concert by similarly evoking musical impressions of the earth below and the sky above. Featuring a world premiere by New York-based NZ composer Leila Adu-Gilmore… Read more: Heaven & Earth
Excited for Friday, August 1st at Owl Music Parlor, Brooklyn with my favorite singer, Zahra Alzubaidi & Aljanoub Ensemble. Zahra and her ensemble will be playing folk and popular songs from Iraq. It can be hard to make music right now with the news, and being in the room with musicians like Zahra who embodies joy, clarity and wise hope through music, is special.
I’ll be joined by Spencer Murphy on bass.
I had the honor of being styled in iconic Puma USA gear by Jess Xu at Brooklyn’s Compound for the celebration of Mostro – a silhouette that continues to shape culture, movement, and creative expression. Love my A$AP Rocky edition handbag!
The night included an inspiring panel discussion followed by WOOF spinning the tunes.
Compound is an amazing space I hope you all get to experience soon!
Photo by @theesosashotme
Last week’s shows in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and London are already a kaleidoscopic blur! But here are some shots of DJ/Producer Alex Morris at Bon Music Vision’s plant-filled headquarters in London.
New York is moving into summer chill mode, and we have just the right show this Wednesday at the lovely Sleepwalk in Bushwick for Sadie Powers album release. On Weds eve, I’m playing solo alongside my fellow singer-keyboardist buddy Eliot Krimsky to support:
Sadie Powers is a bassist and sound artist who explores how memory is experienced in the body. She has composed for dance and ensemble, as well as toured internationally in bands. This show celebrates the release of her solo debut, Souvenir, which has been described as “a world where the gaze is lost in vast landscapes.” Eliot Krimsky is perhaps best known for his work as the lead singer and co-founder of the band Glass Ghost. Over the last decade he has performed extensively in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Mexico and shared stages with Deerhoof, Dirty Projectors, and Sharon Van Etten. Krimsky’s collaborations include Meshell Ndegeocello, Here We Go Magic, Robert Stillman and members of Xiu Xiu.
Finally, the marvellous experimental festival in upstate New York is back, this time with a Leila Adu improv set alongside national improvisers and sound artists at the beautiful Turquoise barn with Jamaican food and camping avail.!
Sleepwalk
251 Bushwick Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Wednesday July 2, 2025, 7:00 Doors, 7:30pm Music
Sadie Powers, Eliot Krimsky & Leila Adu
WOODSTOCKHAUSEN Festival
The Turquoise Barn
8052 County Highway 18
Bloomville, New York 13739
July 25–27
Lineup TBC here: https://www.woodstockhausen.net/info
Opening: Jessica Ackerley
Electropop, avant-classical singer-songwriter Leila Adu joins Unheard-of to kick off the 2025 Cultural Ecologies season with new and recent arrangements of her music including her Freedom Suite and music from her latest album Moonstone & Tar Sands….
Hawai’i-based jazz guitarist, composer, and improvisor Jessica Ackerley opens the performance with a set of her original work…Their music has been featured and reviewed in Pitchfork, Wire Magazine, BBC Radio…
Read more:
https://www.unheard-ofensemble.com/cultural-ecologies
This event can be viewed on land or by canoe! N.B. The event will still happen in case of rain, as there is an alternate indoor venue on site and canoe tickets would be refunded.
Hello friends,
My pal DJ Monk One and I Leila Adu Trio with David Frazier and Spencer Murphy are playing at your friendly at your freindly neighborhood Record Shop in sunny Redhook! Master selecta Monk One is former Wax Poetics editor, label boss at Names You Can Trust, organizer of decade long Shake party and generally lovely Brooklyn stalwart. Record Shop has a powerful and careful choice of vinyl and books in an intimate setting.
Upcoming: Contemporary classical quartet Unheard of Ensemble on the Gowanus Canal May 24 and Aotearoa NZ Stroma date TBA.
Yours in love & struggle,
Leila
After collaborating in Berlin with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Leila performs with clarinetist Joshua Rubin in Los Angeles.
Joshua Rubin, a master of both modern and historical clarinets, collaborates with several of his esteemed musical colleagues on “Waves in Bloom,” a concert exploring the fascinating intersection between classical composition and electronic innovation that traces the emergence of new sonic possibilities, on Saturday, April 19, 2025, 7:30pm at Sierra Madre Playhouse. Known for his expressive and innovative performances merging historical and contemporary music, Rubin is the former artistic director of the lauded International Contemporary Ensemble. Joining
Joshua Rubin, clarinets are:
Marta Tiesenga, saxophone
Cory Smythe, piano; and
Leila Adu, synthesizer, piano and voice.
This week’s Jazz Weekly reviews Leila’s album:
Adu’s vocal tone and style feels like a mix of the social passion and enunciation of a Nina Simone with a dash of the other wordliness of Nico, and it works well on this collection of songs that come across like German cabaret circa Kurt Weill.
George W. Harris’s rich writing style, describes one of the title tracks ‘Moonstone’ as having a ‘prismatic’ pulse with other album aspects as “Bartokian” and “Bohemian.”
The lyrics themselves range from romance to oil extraction adding to the mosaic colors of the album creating a work of art that looks clearer when standing back a few feet. This lady is on to something, both sonically and stylistically, forming a rich and personal language of her own. When’s she touring?
JAZZ WEEKLY: Leila Adu: Moonstone & Tar Sands: Life Matters
This week, Leila is performing and presenting research at the Haus de Kulturen der Welt/House of World Cultures (HKW), in the Afrodiasporic Incubator Series “Always, Already There” curated by George Lewis.
Leila is part of the “Decolonizing Electronic Music” panel at HKW, alongside lectures and concerts with a host of international composers and performers in this weeklong intensive.
Leila is singing a small ensemble version of her song cycle Freedom Suite with the International Contemporary Ensemble as vocalist/pianist for “Negative Space” and “Ghost Lullaby.” This song cycle rests on themes of racial justice, Indigenous rights, and international borders. Stunning baritone Damian Norfleet is performing the final song in the triptych, “Different Strokes.”
Leila gave pre-concert talks for “Alyssum” (2014) for string quartet plus harp before performances by the International Contemporary Ensemble at the Peabody Institute, DC with an interview by Nathalie Joachim before the performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoMA), NYC.
“Alyssum”
“Mahakala Oratorio” with Alice Teyssier (soprano) & Leila Adu-Gilmore (mezzo-soprano)