Leonhard Spies works at the interface between music and theatre. Since 2019, he has been performing and developing music theatre for young audiences with Theater Marabu (»Hast du schon gehört?« 2019, »Master of Disaster« 2021).

In collaboration with the theatre group Port in Air, he has created plays in which he also took on the musical direction, most recently »Killing Anton«, a play about the composer Anton Webern (nominated for the Cologne Theatre Prize 2020). As a musician, performer, composer and musical director, he has been involved in productions at KKT Köln and Theater Pforzheim.

In addition to theatre projects, Leonhard Spies also develops music for contemporary circus performances and has appeared as a performer for contemporary concert performances, for example with the Ensemble uBu (Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s »Présence«, Schwetzinger Festspiele 2018).

Leonhard Spies studied classical guitar with Roberto Aussel at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Cologne. His final concert »Zwischenwelten« was awarded top marks. He won the NRW Creole Special Prize with the klezmer band Tovte in 2019.

Together with violinist Anna Neubert, he forms the duo Fides, for which he arranges works from a wide range of styles and eras for guitar/violin.