Neil Leonard Presents Midtown Live

A Concert of New Works for Saxophone, Electronics, and Video

May 1, 8:00 PM

THE BLANC, New York

Composer, saxophonist, and transdisciplinary artist Neil Leonard presents Midtown Live, a concert of new works for saxophone, electronics, and video, developed during his inaugural residency at THE BLANC. The performance builds on ideas from his current installation Midtown Sound: Listening Legacy, tracing shifting urban soundscapes and the enduring debate over what counts as music and what counts as noise.

Leonard will be joined by Román Díaz, Diego López, Rafael Monteagudo, and Uri Caine.

40th and Madison is a composition based on Leonard’s investigation of his family archive and articles on his grandfather, acoustician Paul J. Washburn, from period journals. In the video, Leonard reflects on how three generations in his family approached listening, and how this research at THE BLANC shaped a deeper awareness of his own identity. On the centennial of the first scientific noise measurements in New York City, the work questions modes of collective listening in our time and explores noise as a cultural construction.

In Jasmine Midtown, Leonard revisits the original song on the opera’s 100th anniversary, incorporating newly commissioned performances by guest artists. Leonard invites soprano Junhua Chen to reimagine the folkloric melody and its impact on Western music in a new composition for electronics and saxophone.

Event Details

Midtown Live

Concert of new works for saxophone, electronics, and video

Date: May 1, 2026, 8:00 PM

Location: 15 E 40th Street, 12F, New York, 10016

RSVP