Lesley Leighton has been appointed as a lecturer and director of the UCLA Chorale and UCLA Chamber Singers for 2014-15 in the Department of Music at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
Leighton currently serves as associate conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, music director of the New West Symphony Chorus and artistic director of the Los Robles Master Chorale. She has also served as Interim Director of Choral Activities at La Sierra University. She has had a major international career as a concert and operatic singer, with solo vocal credits that include Glyndebourne Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Köln Opera, New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic. She is also a composer and arranger, and has appeared as vocalist on over 40 film soundtracks.
Leighton received a DMA in choral music from USC, with concentrations in choral conducting, sacred music, instrumental conducting, choral composition and arranging, She has prepared choruses for world-class conductors including Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel. She recently prepared the Los Angeles Master Chorale for their July 27 and 31 Los Angeles Philharmonic Hollywood Bowl performances of "Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci" and "Dudamel Celebrates Film Music," conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.
