Jessie is a 24-year old NZ-based composer and musician working freelance in the creative arts.
With a diverse musical background, Jessie was immersed in music during her childhood – being heavily involved in theatre as well as performing in bands and as a solo performer around her hometown of Nelson. Since then she has developed a broad skill set and has had success in a range of areas including songwriting, composing (for screen, and choral and instrumental ensembles), arranging and live performance.
Some of her highlights for 2018 include workshopping her SATB choir piece ‘terrma’ with Karen Grylls and the Auckland Chamber Choir, receiving 2nd place in the University of Auckland’s Songwriter of the Year contest, and having her orchestra piece ‘the wilds’ workshopped and recorded by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington.
Jessie is a long-time barbershop singer and has earned medals at national and international level with her quartet and chorus. She also makes learning tracks and arrangements for barbershop and a cappella vocal groups throughout NZ. Jessie volunteers as a national coordinator for Young Women in Harmony and Young Singers in Harmony NZ, so travels to judge at competitions, to run workshops and oversees the annual national competition in which over 700 students from around NZ compete.
After graduating from the University of Auckland in 2018 with First Class Honours in music composition, Jessie is pursuing opportunities which combine her background in music and sound with her passion for storytelling across different creative mediums. This year she aims to build her portfolio of music for screen, gain further experience in the screen industry and will continue to work on an original musical theatre collaboration with playwright/composer Marlon Richards.
| Education | University of Auckland, New Zealand University of British Columbia, Academic Exchange (2016-2017) |
| 2013-2018 | Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Composition with First Class Honours Bachelor of Arts in French |
| Awards & Achievements | |
| 2018 | Bev Sellers Memorial Scholarship Sweet Adelines International |
| Taurus Charitable Trust Postgraduate Scholarship in Music University of Auckland |
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| Ada Kathleen and Barbara Ellen Watson Scholarship University of Auckland |
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| Beatrice Ratcliffe Postgraduate Scholarship in Music University of Auckland |
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| Songwriter of the Year Awards - 2nd Place School of Music Students Association, The University of Auckland |
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| Selected for the NZSO Todd Corporation Young Composer Awards New Zealand Symphony Orchestra |
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| 2017 | First in Course Award: Composition (MUS311) University of Auckland |
| 2016 | Blues Award - Arts University of Auckland |
| Maxwell Walker Memorial Scholarship University of Auckland |
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| Pan Pacific 25&Under Youth Quartet Contest - 2nd Place (ZEAL Quartet) Pan Pacific Youth Harmony Festival |
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| International Rising Star Quartet Contest - 3rd Place (ZEAL Quartet) Sweet Adelines International |
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| 2014 | First in Course Award: Popular Music Creative Practice & Theory and Aural (MUS280 + MUS284) University of Auckland |
| 'Seeds of Success' Contest Winner (received grant for musical equipment) Newstalk ZB and ASB Bank |
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| 2013 | First in Course Award: Popular Music Creative Practice & Theory and Aural (MUS180 + MUS184) University of Auckland |
| Songwriter of the Year - finalist for APRA Best Arranger Award and NZ On Air Best Song Award Popular Music Department, The University of Auckland |
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| Adastra Foundation Music Scholarship Adastra Foundation |
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| 2012 | Grade 8 Classical Piano (Pass with Merit) Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music |
| Jubilee Award Scholarship University of Auckland |
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| Top 17 Finalist in Who Loves Who NZ Cover Song Contest (No Ordinary Thing - Opshop) Play it Strange |
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| Top 48 Finalist - Secondary Schools Songwriting Contest (Divine - Jessie Leov) Play it Strange |
Watch this space for more news on Jessie’s latest musical endeavours.
To hear her original music, visit her soundcloud page.
