ETUDES

Etudes for Piano & Cello by Paul Leonard-Morgan and SUUVI

The collaboration between SUUVI and Paul Leonard-Morgan began in 2022 and resulted in a set of twelve melodic etudes for piano and cello.

Since their creation, the Etudes have been performed live and adapted by other artists for various mediums including dance, fashion, and film (selected projects below).

Additionally, they were used by visual effects collective Blue Dog VFX to experiment with artificial intelligence by using the music from the album in the training of generative filmmaking AI (the resulting short films can be viewed here).

Sheet music and vinyl available for purchase here.

In October 2021, I unexpectedly ended up stuck in LA for ten days with nothing to do. I barely knew anyone in the city, but had Paul Leonard-Morgan’s contact from a friend and decided to send a cold email saying hello. He invited me to his studio, where I showed up with a bag of cold-pressed juice and apparently proceeded to talk his head off during the middle of what I later learned was the height of a busy scoring period.

Somehow this intrusion into his workday was forgiven and he ended our meeting with a suggestion that I might consider trying out LA after graduating from Juilliard that year. I went home and, knowing I wanted to leave NY and now had one friend in Los Angeles, decided to make the move.

When I arrived three months later, Paul invited me again to his studio and told me that, at the suggestion of his scoring collaborator Philip Glass, he was taking a sabbatical from commercial work to write a set of piano etudes.

I had always loved the Philip Glass etudes since I first heard the composer speak and perform “Opening” at my convocation ceremony before starting my Artist Diploma in 2019 and had dreamed of commissioning a collection of cello pieces in that vein. So, when Paul asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with him and rewriting his etudes for piano and cello, my first post-graduation musical project was more than a dream come true.