Jonja Leon Merck
Biography
Jonja is a music director, pianist, composer, and conductor from Berlin, Germany. He holds a BA from Bard College in Jazz Piano Performance and Theater and Performance. He is a composer in the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
He served as a music director and pianist for several productions at the Fisher Center (An Artist Now, Promenade, The Gauntlet, and Show & Tell). His original musical, An Artist, Now (music by Jonja Merck, Lyrics by Laila Perlman) served as his final thesis at Bard College. He was also the club head and music director/conductor for the Bard Musical Theater Company, a student-run theater club. He is currently working on two new original musicals with lyricists Lauren Katz (cycle 33) and Sravya Saraswatula (cycle 33).
Most recently, he volunteered as the music assistant for both 2020 and 2022 productions of Broadway Backwards at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York City.
Professional Experience
- Regional
- Concerts/Cabaret
- Education
Regions
- NYC/Tri-State Area
- Other Countries
Interested in touring?
- Yes
Hireable as
- Theatrical Composer (Music and Lyrics)
- Theatrical Composer (Music only)
- Bookwriter/Librettist
- Music Director/Conductor (Pianist)
- Music Director/Conductor (Not Pianist)
- Music Assistant
- Songwriter
- Vocal Arranger
- Incidental Music Composer/Arranger
- Music Copyist
- Music Transcriber
- Pit Musician (Keyboards)
- Keyboard Programmer
- Sound Designer/Composer
- Music Producer/Record Producer
- Home Studio Whiz
- Audition Pianist
- Class/Voice Lesson/Rehearsal Pianist
My Primary Instrument
- Piano, Synth-Keyboards
My Instruments
- Drums
- Percussion
- Piano
- Synth - keyboards
Software
- Finale
- GarageBand
- Logic
- MainStage
- Sibelius
- QLab
Affiliations
- THE DRAMATISTS GUILD
Current HS, College, or Grad Student?
- Yes
Pronouns
- He/Him