Maestro Leo Eylar Returns

An erudite and engaging speaker, Leo Eylar returns for another fascinating lecture to the Society. His last talk with us covered “thematic transformation” – aka leitmotifs. This lecture will be a continuation and wrap-up on this subject with a focus on the Ring and other Wagner operas. He will then discuss how Wagner revolutionized harmony. If time permits, he may also discuss Schopenhauer’s effect on Wagner and his later works.

Check out his previous lectures featured on our YouTube channel:

• “Wagner’s French Connections” in June, 2024 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-sc3qjA2rI )
• “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Thematic Transformation (aka Leitmotifs)” in January, 2025 (https://youtu.be/_epM6lu9Lxw )

Currently serving as the Music Director of the California Youth Symphony, Leo Eylar is also an active composer. Born in Los Angeles to a musical family. He began studying violin at the age of nine and was accepted into the private studios of both Jascha Heifitz and Ruggiero Ricci. Eylar attended Northwestern University and the University of Southern California and in 1980 joined the Seattle Symphony. Shifting gears in 1982, he was awarded a grant to study conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. After studies there with Otmar Suitner, he returned to the U.S. and completed his Master’s Degree in conducting at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while simultaneously holding the position of Co-Concertmaster of the San Jose Symphony from 1984-89. Eylar was on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1985-88. He is now Professor Emeritus at CSU, Sacramento where he served on the full-time faculty for 30 years directing its symphony orchestra, as well as teaching music theory, history, and composition. Since 1990 he has been Conductor and Music Director of the California Youth Symphony. Under his masterful and spirited direction the orchestra has enhanced its reputation as one of the finest youth orchestras in the world and has performed to great critical acclaim across four continents. He has also guest-conducted extensively throughout Europe and Asia, including prestigious music festivals in Japan, Austria, France, and Australia.

As a composer, his works, which blend a rich, coloristic neo-romanticism with elements of jazz and driving Eastern European rhythmic vitality, have been performed in Carnegie Hall, as well as in England, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Russia, China, and Austria as well as multiple recordings.