Articles, Reviews, Interviews

“The Best Field Recordings on Bandcamp: January 2024,” Bandcamp Daily, 1/31/24 – review by Matthew Blackwell

“With Instruments of Rocks and Shells, Cheryl Leonard Brings Nature’s Music to Life” Bay Nature Magazine, 8/1/23 – article by Matthew Harrison Tedford

“Cheryl E. Leonard & Wobbly – Multiple Park,” Lost in a Sea of Sound, 6/11/23 – album review

“Multiple Park by Cheryl E. Leonard and Wobbly,” White Crate, 5/28/23 – album review by Elise Mills

“Across Multiple Parks; Jim Haynes Interviews Cheryl E. Leonard and Wobbly,” Foxy Digitalis, 5/26/23 – in-depth interview about the album Multiple Park

“Vital Weekly Reviews 1387,” Vital Weekly, 5/25/23 – Multiple Park album review

“Cheryl E. Leonard & Wobbly: Multiple Park LP,” The Answer is in the Beat, 5/17/2023 – album review

“Listening to the Ice with Cheryl Leonard,” Foxy Digitalis, 9/1/2022 – interview by Brad Rose

“The Capsule Garden Vol 1.25 July 22, 2022,” Foxy Digitalis – Antarctica: Music from the Ice album review by Brad Rose

“The Best Contemporary Classical on Bandcamp: June 2022,” Bandcamp Daily, 6/30/22 – Antarctica: Music from the Ice album review by Peter Margasek

“Annotations,” Harmonic Series, 1/13/22 – graphic score for Point Eight Ice with commentary by Keith Prosk

“ACL 2021 – “Pandemic Playlist,” 12/9/2021 – reviews by Richard Allen, includes Schism album

Boomkat, End of Year Chart 2021, Drew Daniel – includes Schism album

“12 Hours, One Musician: Cheryl Leonard Makes Her Mark in EPOCH,” San Francisco Classical Voice, 9/28/21 – feature article by Michael Zweibach

“Crevasse Sounds,” Always Listening, Audio Technica’s web magazine, 7/22/2021 – article/interview about recording in glacial crevasses (in Japanese)

“Cheryl E. Leonard – Schism,” Foxy Digitalis, 6/16/2021 – album review by Brad Rose

“Cheryl E. Leonard – Schism,” A Closer Listen, 6/8/2021 – album review by Richard Allen

“Spools Out: Cassette Reviews for June by Daryl Worthington,” The Quietus, 6/2/2021 – Schism album review by Daryl Worthington

“ACL 2019 – “The Year’s Best Winter Music,” 12/5/2019 – reviews by Richard Allen, includes Watershed album

“Cheryl E. Leonard – Watershed,” A Closer Listen, 1/20/2019 – album review by Richard Allen

Vital Weekly #1177, week 14, Spring 2019 – review of Watershed album

“Cheryl E. Leonard – Watershed,” No-Wave, Spring 2019 – album review by Andrew O’Keefe

“The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp, January 2019” – review of Watershed album

“Singing Stones and Bundled Bees,” Mills Quarterly, Spring 2017 (p. 6-11) – feature article by Linda Schmidt about Leonard’s music, Esther Traugot’s artwork, and relationships between humans and the world we live in

“‘Polar Soundscape’ gives chills to its audience,” San Francisco Chronicle, 4/28/2016 – preview by Jesse Hamlin for Leonard’s perfomance of polar music at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA

“The Boom and Antarctica: Meet the Woman Making Music from the Sounds of the Southernmost Continent,” Noisey/Vice, 5/7/2015 – interview by Michael Haskoor

“Tapping into the Antarctic Beat,” NPR’s Science Friday Blog, 7/20/2012 – story about Leonard’s Antarctic music

“Composer Cheryl Leonard Creates Musical Works from the Sounds of Nature,” Inhabitat.com, 5/11/2012 – feature on Cheryl’s Polar music

“Blow Your Own Horn, The Bold Italic, 5/1/2012 – article on San Francisco instrument inventors

“Ice Notes”, At Length Magazine, 4/24/2012 – journals, images and sounds from Leonard’s Arctic collaboration with visual artist Oona Stern

“Music Outside the Music Box,” Works & Conversations Newsletter, 3/4/2011 – extensive interview with Leonard about making music with natural-object instruments, aikido, climbing and more

“Coldcore,” SF Weekly, 7/28/2010 – preview article for Leonard’s performance of Antarctic compositions in the Green Sound Festival

“Polar Explorations: An Exclusive Interview with Cheryl Leonard,” Sonic Field, 10/27/2010

“Sounds of Snow,” Antarctic Sun, 7/31/2009 – feature on Leonard’s Antarctic music project

“Cheryl E. Leonard: Music from the Ice and the Earth,” Coilhouse Magazine, February 2009 – comprehensive feature about Cheryl’s natural-object compositions and performances including her Antarctic work

“Hear This,” SF Weekly, 9/17/2003– preview article for an outdoor performance of Leonard’s “Instruments in Trees” in New Music on the Mountain

“The Ears Have It,” Metro, 4/18/1996 – review of Leonard’s Making Smashing Machine installation at WORKS/San Jose

Academic Writing

“Listening to Antarctica: Cheryl E. Leonard’s eco-acoustic creative practice,” by Rachel Meyers and Carolyn Philpott, Fusion Journal, Issue 19, Listening in the Anthropocene, March 2021

“Promoting Environmental Awareness through Context-based Composition,” by Carolyn Philpott, Organised Sound, An International Journal of Music and Technology, Volume 23, Cambridge University Press, December 26, 2017

Written by Cheryl E. Leonard

“Antarctica: Music from the Ice,” CD liner notes, nine essays in a 28-page booklet, Other Minds Records, 2022

“Portals and Horizon Lines,” chapter in Arctic Sound and Nature, edited by Jaana Erkkilä and Jari Rinne, Rovaniemi: University of Lapland, 2018

“Meltwater,” chapter in Environmental Sound Artists: in their own words, edited by Frederick Bianchi and V.J. Manzo, New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2016

“Playing Antarctica: making music with natural objects and field recordings from the Antarctic Peninsula,” chapter in Antarctica and Music: Music, sounds, and cultural connections, edited by Bernadette Hince, Rupert Summerson, and Arnan Wiesel, Canberra: ANU Press, 2015

“Night of the E Seals,” in Vitriol, Vol. 1 Issue 1, edited by Evan Karp, San Francisco: Quiet Lightning Press, 2014

“Uzumaki,” graphic score in Notations:21, edited by Theresa Sauer, New York: Mark Batty Publisher, 2009

TV, Radio, Podcast, Film

Uncanny Landscapes Podcast: Cheryl E. Leonard 
– Interview by Justin Hopper, December 21, 2023

The Watt from Pedro Show: On-air guest Cheryl Leonard from San Francisco, CA via Skype
– Interview by Mike Watt plus music by Cheryl Leonard and tunes from Watt’s collection, December 13, 2020

Outside Music Inside the Golden State: Cheryl E. Leonard – radio/podcast interview by Eliot Burk. Season 1, Episode 7. Original airdate: November 23, 2020

Outside/In: 10 x10 – Under the Ice – radio show/podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio about frozen ponds and lakes, includes interview with Leonard and sounds from her piece Frozen Over, produced by Sam Evans-Brown and Taylor Quimby

KQED TV’s SPARK: Our Creative Nature – TV feature on Cheryl’s polar music, produced by Cynthia Stone, original airdate: June 27, 2016

Culture with Rob Bound #184 – radio interview by Katie McMurran, Monocle, April 20, 2015

Make/Work: Episode 16: Cheryl Leonard – podcast interview by Scott Pinkmountain, The Rumpus, August 21, 2014

Composer Searches for Micro-aural Worlds in Nature – radio interview by Eleanor Peterson, WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio 89.7FM, April 18, 2014

The Audiophiles: Finding Music in the Sounds of Antarctica – radio feature and interview by Martina Castro, Crosscurrents from KALW News, original airdate: August 22, 2011

Pen Women Presents – interview and instrument demo with Eileen Malone on San Francisco Public Access TV, July 2009

Noisy People: Improvising a Musical Life – feature-length documentary video by Tim Perkis about musicians and sound artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, released April 2007

KALW’s Artery – radio feature and interview with Cheryl, original airdate: October 2006

New Morning on the Hallmark Channel – TV feature on Cheryl’s work with natural object instruments, original airdate: July 2006 (the video link is under “Nurturing the Spirit“)

KQED TV’s SPARK – TV feature on Cheryl’s Instruments in Trees, original airdate: May 2005