Leo Goldseed
Leo Perez (Also known as Leo Goldseed) (born August 26, 1979) is a Colombian - American multi-instrumentalist musician who mixes classical, electronic, ethnic, and ambient music to create his new age or new instrumental music style. Leo uses piano as his lead instruments, although his compoisitions often combine solo performances with symphonic arrangements on his works.
Leo moved to the United States in the year 2000 in the attempt of staying away from violence groups in Colombia who made difficult the accomplishment of his music goals. In that year he began searching for American promotion for his recordings, ending with his own indie recording label "goldseed productions" now known as Dreamcastle Records. He has been repeatedly considered as the only "Hard" New Age - New Instrumental musician in Latin America, where other trends tend to control the music market.
Leo received MusicAL training at the national conservatory of music at the very early age of 7. His music style was forged through apprenticeship, having several "maestros" whom progressively replaced the standard academic formation that musicians traditionally have for a more personal and philosophical learning experience. This made it difficult for him to fit in the Colombian classical music curriculum, which ultimately led to his decision to study Anthropology in the Universidad De Los Andes (University of Los Andes), school where he graduated on the year 2002.
Leo's style is close to genres often classified as Contemporary Instrumental, Neoclassical, Cinematic, New Age and Eclectic. It is also noticeable how melodic themes are a central focus on his composition style, above other elements such as atmosphere and effects widely known in The New Age music genre. This style has led to reviewers to also call it: cinematic music, or visual contemporary music, as his melodies strongly resemble the themes of a moving picture.
His most acclaimed works published in Colombia are: Infinite Horizon 1998, Piano Pictures 2000 and Heaven's Folklore Chronicles 2003. In the United States Leo has published: Piano Pictures 2000 and An Earth Thought 2006 in collaboration with Romanian virtuoso violinist Danut Muresan. Leo's currently working on his new project "Dreams of Wonder" expected to be released in the first quarter of 2008.