BIOGRAPHY
Philosophy
Leah Mullen’s (b.2000) artistic practice and research work within the disciplines of music composition, stage direction, music and dance performance, and visual art. Her work explores using the arts as a means of communication, specifically of sociopolitical topics. The goals of her projects are often to rehumanize familiar stories, and expose muddled historical narratives through archival materials.
Education
Leah is currently studying binationally at the Hochschule der Künste Bern (Switzerland) and the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany) to complete a dual MA-PhD in Specialized Research with a focus on composition. She studies composition with Dr. Leo Dick and Dr. Simon Steen-Andersen, and voice with Daniel Gloger. Leah received her Master's of Musicology in Music and Culture (2023) at the University College Dublin in Dublin Ireland, where she was named a Global Excellence Scholar. She is an alumna of the Pennsylvania State University (Pennsylvania, USA, 2022), where she completed a Bachelor of Music in music composition, minor in German, and diversity studies certificate. At Penn State she studied composition with Dr. Baljinder Sekhon and Dr. Sarah Genevieve Burghart Rice, and voice with Dr. Ted Christopher.
Composition & Performance
Leah has experience writing for a variety of instrumentations and ensembles, including electronics. Her works have been performed across the United States and Europe. Leah has worked with the performers and ensembles: vocalists Almás, Aya Metwalli, Alice Paroissien, Piper Weldon, and Carter Houston; instrumentalists Dasom Woo (piano), Parker Konkle (piano), Cassandra Hussteiner (cello), Joshua Benitez (flute), Dan Burdick (tuba); and ensembles/groups PHACE Ensemble, Shrine of the Vampyre, Treske Quartet, CORVUS, Penn State Concert Choir, loadbang, Transient Canvas, HUB New Music, Ensemble ICC, Duo Zonda.
Leah enjoys working on collaborative and interdisciplinary projects. She regularly collaborates in opera, theater, and dance. Currently she is a member and co-founder of Parallel Arts, a duo between herself and Mohiniyattam dancer/choreographer, Parvathi Jayaram. She has premiered dance/theater works with Parallel Arts and other dancers/theatre practitioners around Ireland. Most recently, Parallel Arts premiered the piece, small joys, at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, Ireland. Other collaborative works include: Kolam, premiered at the Imagine Arts Festival in Waterford City, Ireland; da.da.da, and Kaala Pani both at the Scene and Heard New Works Festival in Dublin, Ireland. Leah has also been commissioned by Chelsea Opera for their, Reimagine: Forging the future through song concert, and a mini opera, Sidewalk Serenade. Likewise, she has composed music for the play, Headspace, by Frederick D. Miller.
Leah has participated in multiple new music festivals and workshops. Most recently, Leah’s piece here, now was performed at the 2025 Central Washington University New Music Festival, in Ellensburg, Washington, USA and was also selected for the 2025 Penn State New Music Festival and Research Symposium. Also in 2025, Leah participated in the Künstlerhaus Boswil out:spoken program in Boswil, Switzerland. Other new music festivals Leah has attended include: the Alba Music Festival, Longy’s Divergent Studio, the SPLICE Institute, Really Spicy Opera’s Libretto Workshop, the Charlotte New Music Festival, and the 2022 Composing in the Wilderness Backpacking Trip. Leah has served as a social media intern for both the Alba Music Festival and the Charlotte New Music Festival.
As a performer, Leah has premiered some of her own works, as well works by other new music composers, including Lily Zhuoni, Gabriel L. Newvine, David Adu-Appeagyei, Emily McPherson, Jacqueline Fletcher, Oisín Dilger, and Lark McIvor. She has been a member of the Penn State Opera Theater, Oswego Opera Theater, Oriana Singers, Discantus, No Refund Theater, and the University College Dublin Composition Ensemble. Currently, Leah is a composer/vocalist/performer with Parallel Arts.
Research
Leah regularly presents her compositions and research at university events around the world. Within the last year, Leah has presented at the RMA/BFE Annual Research Students’ Conference in Birmingham, England; the ‘Tag der Lehre’ in Lugano, Switzerland; and at ‘Boulez’s Mushrooms’, a symposium hosted by the HKB in Bern, Switzerland.
In the United States, she has presented her work at Penn State’s Annual Sustainability Institute Spotlight, Bard College’s Storytelling: Winning the Climate Narrative event through the World-Wide Climate Teach-In, Penn State’s IllumiNATION art expo, and Bucknell’s 9th Annual Sustainability Symposium. Leah has presented at Musicology in Progress at the University of Pavia, Italy, and the 2023 Uhambo Luyazilawula: Embodied Wandering Practices PSI Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Awards & Recognition
Leah’s works have received recognition in the United States and Europe. Most recently (2025), Leah’s piece Winter Dusk was selected as a winner for the Go Compose North America Winter Song Contest. In 2023, Leah was named a winner of the 2023 West Cork Young Composers Competition (Ireland) for her string quartet, The Hartford, 1894. In 2021, Leah was the winner of the Pennsylvania Chamber Winds’ Call for Scores for her woodwind quintet, Five for Five. Likewise, her fixed media playback piece, Ritual, was selected for the 2021 National Student Electronic Music Event.
Leah is the recipient of the Penn State 2022 Creative Achievement Award, the Penn State 2021 Valley Family Scholarship, the 2021 Penn State School of Music Eleanor Beene Award, and the 2019 Penn State President’s Award for Academic Excellence. Furthermore, Leah was the Penn State nominee for the Marshall and Mitchell postgraduate scholarships, and the Penn State School of Music nominee for the Golumbic Scholarship in Humanistic Achievement.
Updated August 2026