Matt LeVeque (b. 1996) is a percussionist, composer, and improviser based in Los Angeles. His work is primarily rooted in acoustic concert music, but frequently also includes electronic music, video, written text, installation, and intermedia performance. Through all his work, he explores questions of intimacy, queer relationality, and nostalgia.
Matt’s compositions investigate diverse concepts such as the inner lifeworlds of percussion instruments, samples as found objects, documentary materials, and more. He has had works performed at soundpedro, Automata Arts, LA Artcore, Lois Lambert Gallery, rasp.la, Experiments in Electronic Sound Festival, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, and others.
An active interpreter of contemporary percussion music, he has worked closely with composers Jack Herscowitz, Jeonghyeon Joo, Kevin Good, Eric Lennartson, Wong Foo Jeng, Judith Berkson, and María Alejandra Bulla. He has performed at New Music on the Point, BENXT Festival, Yarn/Wire Institute, HEAR NOW Festival, Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Tiny Backpack concert series, and others. He has also performed alongside notable musicians such as Claire Chase, Katherine Young, Elliott Sharp, the Bergamot Quartet, red fish blue fish, and members of Yarn/Wire.
As an improviser, Matt performs regularly with his trio Castle Anthrax, with Jack Herscowitz and Mason Moy, as well as his duo project ++, with Daniel Newman-Lessler. He has also performed frequently with M A Harms, Jeonghyeon Joo, Vinny Golia, and Ana Luisa Díaz de Cossío, in venues such as Coaxial Arts Foundation, Oracle Egg, NettNett Performance Space, Dotolim, and REDCAT.​​
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​Matt’s scholarship focuses on issues of queer futurity and worldmaking, particularly as they relate to experimental percussion practices and sample-
based electronic music. He has presented work at the Transplanted Roots Percussion Symposium and University of Pittsburgh MGSO Conference, as well as having an essay published in the Queer Percussion Research Group Zine Collection alongside Bill Solomon, Jennifer Torrence, Sarah Hennies, and others.
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​Matt is pursuing a Performer-Composer DMA at the California Institute of the Arts, where he studies with Tim Feeney, Michael Pisaro-Liu, and Nicholas Deyoe. He holds an MFA from CalArts and a BA from UC San Diego, where he studied with Steven Schick and Rand Steiger.