About Associate Conductor Lesley Leighton
Lesley Leighton, associate conductor
Committed to nurturing Southern California's rich choral music tradition, Lesley Leighton is associate conductor of Los Angeles Master Chorale, artistic director of Los Robles Master Chorale, and music director of New West Symphony Chorus. A native of Los Angeles, Leighton studied with Paul Salamunovich at Loyola Marymount University, where she earned her BA in choral conducting. She later obtained her MM in vocal performance from the University of Southern California, where she is currently a candidate for a DMA in choral music.
A long-standing member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and principal artist for more than two decades, she has performed with many of the world's most eminent conductors, including Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Kurt Sanderling, Roger Norris, Helmut Rilling and Grant Gershon. Her opera credits include principal appearances with New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, English National Opera, Royal Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Köln Opera, and Glyndebourne.
As a choral conductor, Leighton embraces a broad range of music from the Renaissance to the Romantic Era, although she is particularly dedicated to twentieth and twenty-first century compositions. A long-time advocate of music education, she inaugurated Los Robles Master Chorale's annual High School Choral Festival in March of 2010, launched the High School Choral Leadership Workshop in October 2010, and in 2011 added a Young Composers Competition to the organization's educational outreach programs. LRMC performed both Mass of the Children and Requiem by John Rutter during the 2010-11 season. Leighton also recently debuted as music director of the New West Symphony Chorus, which gave its premiere performance with the orchestra in May 2011 for Orff's Carmina Burana.
Leighton made her Disney Hall conducting debut with Los Angeles Master Chorale in January 2011 as the fourth assistant conductor in the organization's 47-year history. Theodore Bell of CultureSpotLA wrote that she "soared in her debut as she skillfully guided Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia with her sensitive direction.... The result was exquisite as she and the singers connected to bring Britten's iconic music to life with a unique personality. The Chorale responded to her every gesture; the phrases were controlled and nuanced to a degree of fine perfection." And Rodney Punt in LA Opus noted, "It was Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia (conducted by the Chorale's Lesley Leighton), with a brilliantly erotic text by W. H. Auden and the choral magic of England's greatest composer since Purcell that stole a show already brimming over with wit and humor." Leighton was promoted to associate conductor of LAMC in July 2011 – the first associate conductor in the organization's history – and she will take the podium in two concerts during the 2011-12 season.
During the 2010-11 season, Leighton guest conducted the Fauré Requiem and Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music at the Santa Monica United Methodist Church Annual Summer Sing-along in 2010; the Mozart Requiem for El Dorado Opera Company in March 2011; presented choral workshops at Brandeis Institute; and prepared the chorus on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony for the Japan Relief Concert in June 2011 at Disney Hall.
During the summer 2011 season at the Hollywood Bowl, Leighton prepared the LA Master Chorale on Puccini's Turandot for the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasy for Rafael Frühbeck De Burgos; and the Mozart Requiem and Bernstein Chichester Psalms for Bramwell Tovey. In addition, she will present two summer "scratch choir" Broadway show tune performances in June and July with Los Robles Master Chorale. Leighton is a member of SAG, AFTRA, ACDA, Chorus America, LAO and AGMA.