Leonard, Ronald

Cellist who attended the Curtis Institute of Music and studied with Orlando Cole and Leonard Rose.

After graduation, he joined the Cleveland Orchestra. Then he assumed principal cellist duties with the Rochester Philharmonic and served on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music for seventeen years. He spent a year with the Vermeer Quartet and in 1975 became principal cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with whom he stayed for twenty-four years. He has been active in the field of music education as a clinician and panelist at various music festivals, and the Gregor Piatigorsky Professor of Cello at USC.

Other groups with whom he has worked include Al di Meola’s World Sinfonia, the American Quartet, the Angeles Quartet, the Borremeo Quartet, the Capitol Ensemble, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chilingarian Quartet, the Colburn Chamber Orchestra, the Colburn Orchestra, the Guarneri Quartet, the Juilliard Quartet, the Mendelssohn Quartet, the USC Thornton Chamber Orchestra, and the USC Thornton Symphony.

In 1996 and 2003, he gave master classes and participated in panel discussions at the National Cello Congress in Tempe, Arizona. He performed similar duties with the Oregon Cello Society in November 2005.

On 20^th May 2007, the Capitol Ensemble gave a recital that consisted of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007” and “Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011”, and Franz Schubert’s “Cello Quintet in C major, Op. 63, D. 956”.

Ron was one of the performers at Music on the Hill in June 2008. In 2009, he took part in CelloFest at the Banff Arts Centre in Alberta, Canada.

He was the featured soloist with the Colburn Orchestra at Santa Monica High School on 26^thSeptember 2009 when he played Antonin Dvorak’s “Violin Concerto”.

In March 2012, he interpreted Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 1” at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival.

Recordings with which he is credited include: At the Movies by David Shire; Beethoven: Violin Concerto/Haydn: Sinfonia concertante with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chuck Mangione’s Finest Hour; The Christmas Album by David Foster; Heart of the Immigrants by Al diMeola’s World Sinfonia; Hey Santa! by Carnie Wilson; I Run with Trouble by Leah Kunkel; Joao (I Really Samba) by Joao Gilberto; Marlboro Music Festival: 50^th Anniversary Album; One Love: One Dream by Jeffrey Osborne; Smooth Jazz Café 3; That’s What Friends Are For by Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams; and, Turning Point with the L.A. Philharmonic.

Soundtracks that bear his name comprise Children of Sanchez, Gorillas in the Mist: The Adventure of Dian Fossey, Harry and the Hendersons, Snow Falling on Cedars, and Throw Momma from the Train.

He also figures prominently on the Suzuki Cello School series of instructional CDs, as well as Christmas with Just 3 Chords and Orchestral Excerpts for Cello.

Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
S CBS 6164B (UK 45)

Sources:

Leonard, Ronald

Navigation