Timothy Leonelli, MM is the Director of Music for the Abington Public Schools, the Director of the Abington High School Concert Band, and is the Director and Music Arranger for the historic Abington “Champions” Marching Band. He is a Boston-based composer, arranger, conductor, and educator and holds degrees in Music Composition from The Boston Conservatory (MM) and Berklee College of Music (BM).

Leonelli is an advocate for new music in universities, colleges, and public schools. He has worked with Boston College, Stony Brook University, North Andover High School (MA), Reading High School (MA), and Burlington High School (MA). Leonelli’s research in the use of just intonation, the overtone series and tuning variables for wind instruments through composition and orchestration techniques has been presented at the College Band Directors National Association’s Athletic Band Symposium.

Timothy’s output of orchestral and wind ensemble literature combines the drive and force of modern drum and bugle corps in combination with contemporary abstraction and post-modernism. He has been a winner of the The Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble Composition Contest and premiered his “Uprising for Large Wind Ensemble” at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater. Leonelli’s principal composition teachers at Boston Conservatory were Marti Epstein and Jan Swafford. He studied music theory with Curtis Hughes and piano with Carlos Vargas.

A longtime staff member for the Boston College Bands Program, Leonelli is Music Arranger and Low Brass Instructor for the “Screaming Eagles” Marching Band. He has also arranged music for the Boston College University Chorale, collaborated with the Dynamics acapella student-organization, and had served for a decade as their Pep Band Director for hockey and basketball teams. In 2013, the Boston College Marching Band was selected to perform at the 57th Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, DC.

Since 2009, Tim has written over 20 drum corps-style shows for the University which have been performed at events for the New England Patriots, the Boston Celtics, the Montreal Aloutettes, at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland, and with the Boston Pop Orchestra at the Pops on the Heights Scholarship Gala.

In 2023, Leonelli was hired by the Genesis Drum and Bugle Corps to serve as their Music Supervisor and Brass Arranger. No stranger to writing for the drum corps activity, Tim has consulted the Boston Crusaders, Crossmen, Troopers, and Genesis drum and bugle corps on their arrangements and brass orchestrations.

In 2014, as part of their 50th anniversary production, Leonelli wrote the tag ending for their DCI Finalist show “Alma Gitana: A Gypsy Soul”.

Most recently, Leonelli was the Brass Caption Head for the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps. In 2020, he made over 1,000 points of contact with prospective students who received personalized emails to be part of the Troopers Brass. Under his leadership, even with the cancellation of the DCI Summer Tour due to the COVID 19 pandemic, Tim provided brass students with some of the most engagement, instruction, and educational opportunities in the activity.

This included 2 Virtual Camps, 16 Sunday Brass Instructional “Check-Ins”, a masterclass, 8 guest speakers, preparation for 4 virtual performances and I&E submissions – two of which place 1st and 3rd respectfully.

Scholarships***


Leonelli also coordinated and moderated a session where educators shared their drum corps teaching experience in Costa Rica for the Marching Arts Education's "Troopers Day".

Tim served as Assistant Brass Caption Head for the Troopers from 2017-19 where he worked closely with DCI Hall of Fame legends Robert W Smith and Donnie VanDoren. He also taught the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps as a Lead Low Brass Instructor in 2014-15.

Accepting challenges of the moment, in 2014 Tim served as Interim Brass Caption Head for the Boston Crusaders, where he found his first time conducting a full horn line would be their finals night warm up of that year.

In 2013, the Boston Crusaders were selected to perform at the 57th Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, DC, and in 2012, the Boston Crusaders were selected to perform at the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention and the National Anthem at celebrated Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox.
Leonelli will always be grateful to Chad Pence for his teaching, guidance, and taking a chance him by hiring him in the fall of 2011 to teach the tubas of the Crusaders.

Originally from California, between 2011 and 2007, Tim was Section Leader (2011-2010) and a member of the Concord Blue Devils “A” Corps Tuba Section, “the Line”. Leonelli had won three Drum Corps International World Champion titles in 2010, 2009, and 2007 with the Blue Devils as a member, and was the 2011 Trombone I&E Champion with his performances of the Paul Hindemith Trombone Sonata. Involved with Drum Corps International starting in 2005, Timothy was a member of Esperanza from San Diego, CA from 2005-2006.

Tim is grateful to his drum corps mentors that he still looks up to and reaches out for assistance even today including John Meehan, Kevin Ronan, and Anthony Cruddas. Chad Pence, who passed away in 2023, left an incredible mark on Leonelli on how to be a good person, a passionate teacher, and a detailed musician.

At Berklee College of Music, Leonelli served as the Assistant Conductor and Principal Trombonist of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra. Leonelli was distinguished as the Richard Levy Scholarship Award Recipient from the Berklee Composition Faculty and was commissioned to write a piece at their annual Writing Division Awards Concert for the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra. His principal composition teachers were John Bavicchi, Andrew List, Yakov Gubanov, one of the last composition students of Dmitri Shostakovich. His principal conducting teachers were Sean Newhouse, Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Francisco Noya, Director of the Boston Civic Orchestra. His principal trombone teacher was John Faieta

Born and raised in Oceanside, CA, Tim now lives in Abington, MA with his wife Katie, and two cats Lily and Pippa, uses Sibelius to write his compositions, and is a member of NAfME, MMEA, CBDNA and is a proud Adjudicator for USBands.