Rising Stars: Meet Leon Thomasian

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leon Thomasian.

Hi Leon, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Born and raised in the middle of a warzone, I fled Iraq with my family at the age of 12. While living in Syria as a refugee, I was able to continue my classical studies, and for the first time, I was also exposed to jazz, rock and progressive metal. I even joined bands and explored different genres. I started transcribing scores and wrote my own listening and rhythmic exercises. Coming from Armenian/Chaldean parents, I developed an interest in Armenian/Middle Eastern ethnic music and explored odd time signatures and obscure scales.

In 2008, I started a new challenging life as an immigrant in Los Angeles, California. My passion for music motivated me to learn English, go through part-time jobs, cope with financial difficulties and still be able to manage school life and music studies. Living in the US provided me with a lot of new learning resources.

I graduated from California State University, Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in Media Composition and a master’s degree in Composition in 2016. After graduating, I did not have a solid direction to go full-time with music. I worked as an administrator, an accompanist, and a private piano teacher but it was not a fulfilling experience musically and financially. At some point, I even worked in construction, jewelry, and other random jobs. While still going through this ambiguous phase, I got married to my wife -also a musician- and then the pandemic happened. That gave me a chance to rearrange my priorities, and with my family’s encouragement, I was able to get my music life back. I will forever be grateful for their unwavering support. I’m proud to say I’ve been making huge progress, and this has been the best decision of my life. I am finally a working full-time musician offering a variety of services to my clients.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Since my childhood, growing up in dangerous circumstances and struggling to find enough resources to educate myself in music, I had to work extremely hard and be resourceful myself to get the training I needed. Starting a brand-new life in the US had its own challenges as well, but of course, I had way more resources available including more music schools and access to the computer and internet.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Currently, I teach and perform piano for private and public recitals, concerts, trade shows, and various online music platforms. I perform with The StArt Ensemble, Ace Trio, and Satellite Citi. As a freelance musician, I offer a wide range of services such as music transcription, orchestral mock-ups, arrangements for all ensemble sizes, and original music for multimedia. I have published original compositions, as well as new piano arrangements of pop songs, movie soundtracks and world music, which have been well received. Additionally, I get commissioned by music companies to provide content for their instruments. My latest composition “Voyage” was published by Casio and featured their latest Privia Model Keyboard. I also release new content on a weekly basis and feature hardware instruments and sample libraries on my YouTube channel and other platforms. I’m an official artist for Casio and a product ambassador for several companies and work on new demos on a daily basis. I look forward to working on bigger and more challenging projects this year.

I will forever be proud of achieving my goals after going through all those obstacles and starting a new life in the US yet still managed to graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field I am most passionate about and make a successful career out of it.

What sets me apart from others is that I was incredibly lucky to be exposed to many different genres of music including ethnic music which broadened my understanding of different harmonies and music styles. I heavily rely on listening and I am usually able to play anything by ear, but I also sight-read music notation really fast.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was always a calm and quiet kid. My parents tell me when I was a little kid, sometimes they would not realize I was playing with my toys next to them because I was so quiet. The only noise I made was when I played my toy piano. Since I was 5 years old, I would play melodies of any song I heard on TV/Radio. That was when my dad decided I should take piano lessons.

I was fascinated by nature and grew to love art. All forms of art. In fact, I try to incorporate art in everything I do. Whether it is changing a tire on my car, fixing a broken doorknob, hanging a light fixture. There is art in everything we do.

I also loved working with computer technology. When I was 15 years old, I worked at a computer store and my job was fixing motherboards and assembling computer parts for customers. My love for technology has emerged into love for music gear, both software and hardware.

My current hobbies include woodworking and drawing with pencil.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.leonthomasian.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leonthomasian/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leonthomasianmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/leonthomasian
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/leonthomasian
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6wa12b0krtFSrRC92eLqA1