Biography

ALLISON LEYTON-BROWN

Allison Leyton-Brown is an award-winning composer, producer, musical director, and pianist. She holds a degree in Composition and Jazz from Montreal’s Concordia University and a Master’s in Composition for New Music Theater from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Allison has composed numerous original music and sound scores for various media, including documentaries, TV shows, podcasts, children’s media, feature films, theater, opera, and dance productions across North America and Europe.

Allison’s recent TV scores include the animated show Vida the Vet (Spin Master), where she composed the Main Title Theme and episodic songs for seasons 1 & 2, and the award-winning docuseries How I Got Here (Super Channel). Other TV scores include Peg+Cat (PBS Kids – Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition), the dramatic series The Good Wife (CBS), Dateline NBC, 20/20, and What Would You Do? (ABC), as well as the pilot for Amazon Studios’ The Horror of Dolores Roach.

Allison is an in-demand composer for podcasts and new audio media, having scored dozens of widely popular podcasts. Recent projects include In the Dark – Season 4 (Condé Nast), The New Yorker: Political Scene (Condé Nast), The Ultimate Choice (TVO Today), Good Sport (TED Audio Collective), Verified: Full Disclosure (Stitcher), Fierce Rivalries (Sony Entertainment), Unfinished: Short Creek (Stitcher), Imposters Seasons 1 & 2 (Spotify Originals), Chasing Cosby (LA Times), This American Life (NPR), The TED Interview (TED Inc.), The Argument (NY Times), and more.

Film credits include the feature-length dance/art film North: a Love Story, dramatic shorts It Had Wings (DCIFF, MSPIFF, Durango Official Selections, Best Original Score Award – Wild Rose IFF), The Bicycle (Cannes, NY Film Fest), Chair and Manicotti (Archipelago/CINE), and documentaries Rainy Season (PBS) and Millions: A Lottery Story (nationwide screening).

Theatrical credits include music and lyrics for the puppet musical Elmer the Patchwork Elephant Show (international tour in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canada), Pete the Cat: The Musical, and Pilgrimage to the Mouth (her fifth musical written with librettist/playwright Sophia Chapadjiev). Allison is the composer-in-residence for the avant-garde company Archipelago Theatre, for whom she has composed five scores, including their critically acclaimed multi-media production The Narrowing. Allison has repeatedly been invited as an artist-in-residence at Duke University and has written five award-winning scores for productions there, including Exit the King and 2018’s Dancing at Lughnasa.

Allison teaches post-graduate composers at Sheridan College’s Music Scoring for Screen and Stage Program and formerly taught Composition and Music Performance at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She regularly gives master classes on Media Scoring in both the US and Canada. Allison is on the steering committee of the Society of Composers and Lyricists (NY Chapter), with whom she organizes and moderates panels for industry professionals.

Allison works regularly as a producer, arranger, bandleader, and recording pianist. She has performed with various groups at venues ranging from dive bars to posh establishments and fronts The Allison Leyton-Brown Trio.

PRESS

“Leyton-Brown’s original songs and orchestral music are at times haunting, lush, lyrical, rhythmic… The music really carries the soul of the piece.” – Susan Broili, The Herald-Sun 

“Leyton-Brown’s physical stance at the keyboard comes closer to Joe Strummer than Dr. John, but she’s got skills that would make Mac Rebennack grin that trademark grin.” – J. Hunter, Albany Jazz