Leroy Roncken is a composer from the Netherlands whose style mainly draws on classical and medieval music, as well as fantasy film and game scores. Using this musical vocabulary, he tells stories and paints sonic pictures inspired by nature and high fantasy.

Leroy has always had an interest in music, which he turned into a serious hobby in his teens. As he worked hard on his keyboard and guitar skills, Leroy grew a fascination for composition. He broadened his musical horizons and grew a deep love for classical, fantasy, and medieval music.

Biography

Determined to learn about more musical styles and improve his composition skills, Leroy enrolled for the musicology programme at Utrecht University. There, he earned both his Bachelor’s degree and his Research Master’s degree in musicology by combining historical and media-based musicology in his research. Leroy applied his practical musical experience together with his new-found knowledge of music theory and music history to analyse film and video game soundtracks. This in-depth research aided his composition training and brought him new insight into writing music for screen media.

Both Leroy’s Bachelor’s thesis and Research Master’s thesis focus on the way video game scores help construct game environments; through his analyses he showed how music can influence perception and shape gameworlds from the most general moods to the smallest environmental details beyond the limitations of the screen. These theses culminated in Leroy earning his “Master of Arts” title.

Inspired by his research, Leroy developed an idea for a symphonic suite to put all his new knowledge and composition skills into practice. Over the course of almost four years, this idea grew into his debut album Enchanted Valleys, which portrays a journey through a diverse fantasy world. While working on this project, Leroy came to realise that he wanted to turn this passion into a career.

Currently, Leroy is composing a diverse selection of EPs to advance his fluency in a variety of musical styles and enrich his musical vocabulary. These projects include a classical symphonic work, historically oriented medieval music, a cinematic fantasy score, and more.