During his time at the Bristol Old Vic, John introduced many innovative practices, including the use of stereophonic sound effects and surround-sound many years before these became commonplace in theatre. Towards the end of his time there, he co-designed, with his colleague Alastair Goolden, a revolutionary new theatre sound control system, which saw commercial success as the Libra Theatre Sound Desk, winning the prestigious ABTT Product Of The Year Award in 1979.
After a period spent working freelance, John was invited to join The Royal Shakespeare Company where, in 1984, he was to become Head Of Sound and an Associate Artist of the company. He worked on most of the RSC’s most successful shows during his ten-year period there, transferring many to Broadway and touring others around Europe. He also developed one of the first computer-assisted theatre sound systems for the company’s Pit Theatre at The Barbican Centre and initiated a concept design study for a digitally controlled assignable theatre sound console in 1985, once again, many years before the idea became accepted as standard practice. Sadly, the finance for developing the idea could not be found, so DAISY (Digital-Analogue Interface SYstem) never saw the light of day.
John left the RSC in 1989 to pursue a freelance career, with which he continued with great success, eventually forming a partnership with other like-minded designers under the banner of Aura Sound Design. During this period, he became sound associate for The Almeida Theatre, received an honorary fellowship from The Guildhall School Of Music & Drama, for which he is a visiting professor of Theatre Sound, won a Drama Desk award, a Sound Designer Of The Year award and wrote an acclaimed textbook on theatre sound which is now in preparation for its second edition, as well as contributing to other books, journals and radio programs. With his associates in Aura, he designed sound systems for The Almeida Theatre at all of its temporary homes and for the refurbished theatre in Islington, for the new Hampstead Theatre in London, and exhibition installations for Madame Tussauds at Warwick Castle, Amsterdam and New York. In 2000, with his long-term colleague John Owens, he designed the sound for the Millennium Mystery Places in York Minster Cathedral, the first time the plays have ever been performed in the Minster, which presented an immense technical challenge.
In addition to all of this and to producing numerous soundtracks for shows in the UK and all over the world, John has found time to visit The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts as a guest lecturer, as well as lecturing in the USA, South Korea and The Philippines. He has been honoured with a Fellowship of The Guildhall School Of Music, an Honorary Fellowship of The Hong Kong Academy Of Performing Arts and was made a Companion Of The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts in 2018.
At the end of 2004, the partners decided to lay Aura Sound Design to rest, and, back once again in the freelance world, John is as busy as ever with shows in London’s West-End, The National Theatre Of Great Britain, Hampstead Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal, Chichester Festival Theatre and with projects on tour in the UK. He was part of the creative team for Sir Richard Eyre's acclaimed productions of Ibsen's Ghosts and O'Neil's Long Day's Journey Into Night and more recently with Laura Linney's one woman performance of My Name Is Lucy Barton at The Bridge Theatre. He has also produced several sound effects libraries that are used in film, theatre and TV productions and are available for sale in on-line libraries.
In March 2016, John was presented with the Harold Burris-Meyer Distinguished Career In Sound award at The USITT Expo in Salt Lake City and in June 2016 he became the first honoree of the United States Theatre Sound Designers and Composers Association. He is a member of The Audio Engineering Society, The Institute for Professional Sound, The Musicians' Union, The Association of Sound Designers (UK) and the Theatre Sound Designers & Composers Association (USA)
Some of the highlights of John’s career in theatre sound include Piaf, Nicholas Nickleby, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac, all for the Royal Shakespeare Company and all later seen in New York on Broadway: Medea, Hamlet, Plenty, Coriolanus, Richard III, Phedre and Brittanicus, all for The Almeida Theatre Company and also seen in New York; all but two plays in the Shakespearean canon for assorted theatre companies; work for The Norwegian National Theatre, for The Deutsches Shauspeilhaus in Hamburg; many productions with directors Richard Eyre, the late Howard Davies, John Caird, Michael Bogdanov, Trevor Nunn, Terry Hands, Kathy Burke, Michael Blakemore, Michael Attenborough and Mike Leigh, amongst others, and a continuing involvement with new writing in many of the UK’s leading theatres.
John is married to the ‘cellist Andrea Hess and they live in London.
Current Short-form Biography
John Leonard Sound Design
John Leonard
John Leonard started work in theatre sound 46 years ago, during which time he has provided soundtracks for theatres all over the world.. His most recent theatre includes: Song At Twilight, at Bath Theatre Royal & UK Tour, Eden at Hampstead Theatre Downstairs; Sleeping Beauty at The Theatre Royal, Stratford East; Corrido - A Ballad for The Brave at The Victoria & Albert Museum; Mood Music at The Old Vic; Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Bristol Old Vic, West-End, New York & Los Angeles; My Name Is Lucy Barton at The Bridge Theatre; Present Laughter and In Praise of Love at Bath Theatre Royal & Ustinov Studio & The Real Thing for Bath Theatre on Tour; The Stepmother at The Minerva Theatre, Chichester; The Retreat, Beirut and The Other Place at The Park Theatre; All Our Children, at the Jermyn Street Theatre; Duet For One, U.K. Tour; Consent, Waste, Detroit, Grief, Untold Stories-Cocktail Sticks, 2000 Years, England People Very Nice, Much Ado About Nothing, and London Assurance at the National Theatre; Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe; The Dark Earth and The Light Sky, The Master Builder, Little Eyolf and Ghosts (also West End and New York) at the Almeida; Into The Woods at The Royal Exchange, Manchester; The BFG at Birmingham Rep; Birthday and Tribes at The Royal Court; Prism, Cell Mates, The Firm, Mother Christmas, Stevie, Farewell To The Theatre, Lawrence After Arabia, Ken and Mr. Foote’s Other Leg (also West End) at Hampstead; Consent, Lady Windermere’s Fan, The Libertine, Dead Funny, Hand To God, The Duck House, Just Jim Dale, Firebird and McQueen (West End)
He has written an acclaimed guide to theatre sound, is the recipient of Drama Desk, LDI Sound Designer Of The Year and USITT Distinguished Career Awards and is a Fellow of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a Companion of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and an Honorary Fellow of The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts
Photo Credit: Nobby Clark