Leslie Ann Leytham is a San Diego-based mezzo-soprano who actively commissions contemporary mutli-media narrative vocal works, and collaborates with composers not only as a singer and actor, but as a producer and director as well. Ms. Leytham seeks to consistently extend the theatrical and technical boundaries of the voice and has commissioned or premiered works by Carolyn Chen, Beat Furrer, Laure M. Hiendl, Nicholas Deyoe, Clinton McCallum, Carolyn Chen, Marti Epstein, Andy Vores, Nicolas Reveles, and countless more. Leslie has performed as a featured artist with The Industry Opera Company directed by Yuval Sharon with WildUp under the baton of Christopher Rountree (Los Angeles), Noon 2 Midnight concert marathon produced by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ensemble Echoi on the Monday Evening Concert Series under the direction of Jonathan Hepfer (L.A.), La Jolla Symphony under the direction of Steven Schick (San Diego), wasteLAnd concert series (L.A.), and CityWater Ensemble (San Francisco).

Ms. Leytham has sung with the San Diego Opera as both a featured soloist and chorister since 2017, and premiered the roles of Third Frida in El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) by Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz (San Diego Opera) Nowhere in Paradise TBD by Clinton McCallum and Domin in The Robots by Carolyn Chen with Project [BLANK] (SD), Witch in CityOpera’s inaugural production of The Queen of Carthage by Hibbs/Purcell (SD), and Marfa in The Heart of a Dog by Rudolf Rojahn, Inez in No Exit by Any Vores, and Gretchen in Rumplestiltzkin by Marti Epstein with Guerilla Opera (Boston), among many others. Ms. Leytham has also been featured in installation performances at NOWY Teatr (Warsaw), the Mengi (Reykjavik), Space4Art (SD), and Bread and Salt (SD).

Leslie is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Project [BLANK], an interdisciplinary and experimental concert series in San Diego, which has been hailed as a “…company to watch” by the San Diego Union Tribune. As Artistic Director, Ms. Leytham curates immersive, multi-disciplinary chamber music and operatic performances that explore new musical territory while casting a contemporary eye on the established canon. By bringing together diverse artistic practices from our uniqely bi-national community of artists, PROJECT [BLANK] produces novel musical experiences that challenge and reframe the listener’s relationship to music. Only in its 6th season, Leytham has managed to produce 30 concert events, and worked with over a hundred musicians and artists from San Diego and Tijuana.

Leslie earned her D.M.A in contemporary music performance from UCSD (2015), M.M. in vocal performance from The Boston Conservatory (2007), and a B.M. in vocal performance from UNLV (2005). Leslie has studied voice with Dr. Carol Kimball (UNLV), Dr. Rebecca Folsom (DMA), and currently studies with Sarah Agler. While at UCSD, Leslie developed her interdisciplinary work under the guidance of the late violinist Janos Negyesy and video artist, Tara Knight.