Kristian de Leon is a composer, percussionist, and educator from Southern California. His compositions are colorful and explorative works that explore the human connection between music and mental cognition. As a performer, he specializes in an avant-garde and theatrical style that focuses on fully portraying the physical weight of sound in a sonic space.

Kristian received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance at the California State University, Fullerton, performing with and leading a number of the university’s premier music ensembles during his undergraduate career. Since graduating in 2019, Kristian has appeared as a guest percussionist with the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet and participated in the 2019 Sō Percussion Summer Institute, hosted by Sō Percussion at Princeton University. His music has been read by the Brightwork New Music Ensemble and he has had numerous commissions for mixed chamber ensembles in addition to working as a full-time arranger and instructor for high school marching percussion ensembles.

Kristian will begin his graduate studies in Music Theory and Composition at NYU Steinhardt this fall.