Danny Ledesma is a postgraduate Scholar at the Royal College of Music, studying composition with Julian Anderson. He came to the college on two scholarships, one supported by the Lucy Ann Jones Award and the other supported by the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust who continue to fund his studies.

Born in London in 1979, he did his undergraduate studies at Trinity College of Music with Andrew Lovett and Daryl Runswick. Whilst there he won the John Halford Prize for composition and was awarded the TCM Trust Silver Medal for his "outstanding contribution to the composition faculty 2001/2002".

He is an SPNM shortlisted composer (Society for the Promotion of New Music), selected for his works Landscapes and Returns - Prelude (Apology) and A Strange Case of Dying.

A keen piano improviser, he has performed in a concert series at the National Portrait Gallery. Danny has also written music for film - the short film Extranjero (dir. Tomas Leach) was premiered at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in the Summer 2002. Forays into electroacoustics have produced the four channel surround sound work, Laughing II Long, recently performed at the Royal College of Art, accompanied by visual projections especially created by RCA students.

Recent commissions and projects include somethinG oN mY minD, 2003 for Sinfonia 21, Suburban Party, 2001 for choir, commissioned by Stephen Jackson and Gael Force, 2000 for electroacoustics and dance, a collaboration with Fiona Graham and the Royal Academy of Dance.

Notable performances of his works include;

• Broken Lives  at the Bangor New Music Festival, Wales 2003 (by Jane Chapman)
• Laughing... at the British Conservatoires Composers Forum 2002, Duke's Hall, RAM (by the Manson Ensemble, conductor Dominic Muldowney)
• Seeking Structure  Barbican Hall 2001 (by the London Symphony Orchestra Clarinet Quintet)
• Emperor of Ice Cream  Park Lane Group 2000
• La¶geteona  at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 1997 (by the Steve Martland Band).