Our circle brings together composer-performers in a collective compositional practice, where listening, play, improvisation, composing, and rehearsal all contribute to building a piece.

We begin with no fixed composition. Our different ways of listening and questioning fuel how we carve form and shape material; each piece becomes a meeting point of creating minds. We are building a language of shared voice.

Our canvas lies in what already exists — from discarded objects to sculptures, bridges, and architecture. We respond to what we find, entering into dialogue with the places and communities we encounter and inviting audiences into a shared present shaped by what we hear, make, and discover together.

Sound through connection. Connection through sound.

Featured Work

MEMBERS

STEPHANIE LEOTSAKOS — Stephanie Leotsakos is a Colombian-Greek-American composer, conductor, soprano, violinist, educator, and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores storytelling, embodiment, place, and community. Her work spans chamber music, multimedia opera, and site-responsive performance. She is the recipient of the National Opera Association’s 2024 Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition and is founder and director of Found Sound Circle.

LEIF HALEY — Leif Haley is a composer, percussionist, and pianist whose work spans acoustic and electronic music and collaborations across dance, literature, visual art, and animation. His creative interests include rhythm, musical ekphrasis, and unconventional approaches to sound-making. He is co-director of Found Sound Circle and is always looking for more things to bow, from cowbells to music stands.

NIRMALI FENN — Nirmali Fenn is a Sri Lankan-born Australian composer and educator based in New York. Her work turns the ear inward and outward, listening into human nature, the natural world, and what we hold for one another. Her portrait recordings on Kairos and New Focus Recordings have been praised for their “dynamic, sculptural fluidity,” “real humanity,” and “tremendously compelling and deeply human” force.

ALEX STATEN — Alex Staten is a writer, composer, percussionist, and photographer whose creative practice moves between sound, language, and visual media. His work embraces familiar materials and established forms as starting points for experimentation, finding possibilities for reinvention within things that might otherwise seem ordinary or already known.

CHRISTOPHER NORTH — Christopher North is a British-American composer and novelist whose work explores storytelling across music and language. His compositions span orchestral and chamber music, instrumental and orchestral heavy metal, and music connected to his fiction. He is the author of several published novels, including The Broken, 22 Scars, and the ongoing fantasy series The Redemption of Erâth.

JAMES SCHADT — James Schadt is a composer and pianist with interests in contemporary classical music, theater, and collaborative performance. His work spans vocal, chamber, brass, and large-ensemble music, and he is an active performer of new works. His creative practice brings together composition and performance with an interest in incorporating theatrical thinking into musical contexts.

JAMES MADRILEJO — James Madrilejo is a Filipino-American composer, audio engineer, and educator whose work has been performed internationally at venues including LSO St Luke’s, St Mary Le Strand, and Kew Gardens. Recent collaborations include commissions and performances with the Jasmine Quartet and Puentes Ensemble. Alongside composing, he works in audio production and teaches music production in New York City public schools.

Follow us on Instagram @foundsoundcircle
(linked below)