For his 2024 Roulette Commission, saxophonist and composer David Leon premiers A Divine Echo, a hybrid work of chamber music and wordless puppet theatre. Engaging with love and compassionate sacrifice, aging, decay, and familial duty, A Divine Echo tells the story of a boy and his grandmother whom live together.

The piece is inspired by bunraku puppetry and contemporary musics alike, expanding on Leon’s compositional practice to include a trio of puppeteers alongside a trio of musicians on vibraphone, cello, and clarinet. Together, the disciplines work in measured counterpoint, elucidating the parallels between them while weaving a narrative about the bonds we share with loved ones.

David Leon clarinet & alto saxophone
Matt Moran vibraphone
Lester St. Louis cello, electronics
Dorothy James puppeteer
Emily Batsford puppeteer
Andy Manjuck puppeteer

Concept, script, and musical score by David Leon
All puppets designed and constructed by Yuliya Tsukerman

“[David Leon’s] extroversion feels like a natural part of his musical personality, spiking his agile post-bop with nifty conceptual brio that never gets in the way of his desire to communicate.” – Peter Margasak, The Quietus

A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Watch below or on YouTube.

David Leon is a Miami-born saxophonist, woodwinds player, composer, and improviser living in Brooklyn, New York. His work is guided by a persistent search for vitality through autonomy, contradiction, hyperbole, and humor. His work with the saxophone investigates alternate methods for producing a tone, refinement of these techniques, and development of a distinct vocabulary using these sounds; he melds this timbral approach with melodic and rhythmic phrasing from Cuban folkloric traditions, narrative playing, Free Jazz & avant-garde esthetics, and microtonality to reveal a personal conceit.