David Leisner

David Leisner (born December 22, 1953) is a classical guitarist, composer, and teacher at the Manhattan School of Music and an expert on focal dystonia. He had the impairment for twelve years and recovered through methods that he developed.

Leisner won the top prizes in the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions. In the 1980s, he was disabled by focal dystonia, a disorder that affected his right hand when playing guitar. He sought the advice of medical professionals from medical doctors of western medicine to acupuncturists without finding a cure. Although during this period he became an important and respected personality in the composition world, he was unable to keep away from the stage. He began performing music using only a few of the fingers on his right hand, and he performed difficult works that dazzled audiences unaware that he was injured. Eventually, through his study of large-muscle groups, he healed himself and teaches his discoveries to students in master classes and private lessons.

He has toured Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the UK, Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. He has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony, and on concert series in such notable venues as Boston's Jordan Hall and Gardner Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, the Folly Theater in Kansas City, the St. Francis Auditorium in Santa Fe, and the Augustine Guitar Series in New York City. A three-concert solo series in New York's Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall included the first all-Bach recital in New York's history. In recent years Leisner has been the Artistic Director of Guitar Plus, an annual series in New York devoted to chamber music with the guitar.

Leisner's albums have included music by Bach, Villa-Lobos, Mertz and Schubert, contemporary composers, his own compositions, and an album of favorites, including the Britten Nocturnal and the Bach Chaconne. He has recorded guitar concertos by Alan Hovhaness and Andrew Thomas, as well as chamber music by Haydn, Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, and Hovhaness. His recordings have drawn praise from musicians and critics worldwide

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