Emilio De Leon
Percussion
Emilio De Leon is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio(UTSA), where he pursued his Masters degree in Music specializing in Percussion Performance and Pedagogy. He also holds a Bachelors in Music Performance from Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) in his hometown of Laredo, TX.
During his time at UTSA, Emilio served as a graduate assistant to the UTSA Spirit of San Antonio (SOSA) marching band. There, he was given the opportunity to arrange battery percussion parts for the Hispanic Heritage show where Tejano singer, Shelly Lares, performed her hit single ‘Ganas de Besarte’ alongside SOSA. Another one of Emilio’s roles at UTSA was serving on instructional staff for the UTSA Indoor Percussion program, where they competed in local/national competitive circuits such as TECA and WGI. This past season, the UTSA Indoor ensemble placed 3rd overall in Open Class Finals at the 2025 WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, making history for the organization.
Emilio has a prior extensive resume in teaching at schools from Laredo, San Antonio, and Castroville, Texas, where their percussion sections have been extremely successful during the competitive season(s), earning awards and special recognitions.
In addition to being an educator and arranger, Emilio has also had the opportunity to perform with many notable soloists and ensembles including Dr. Mark Boseman, SNL Percussionist Valerie Naranjo, Ivan Trevino, Paul Millette, Sherry Rubins, the Mid-Texas Symphony, the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra, and more recently, The UTSA Percussion Ensemble. The UTSA Percussion Ensemble performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in November of 2024, premiering the work, “Roadrunner” by Paul Millette, as part of the convention’s chamber competition. Emilio also had the opportunity to premiere a new work, “Sync” by Gabriella Reyna, at the National Convention of Percussion Pedagogy (NCPP) in May of 2025.