About this Artist
As a conductor, Lesley Leighton has conducted for LA Opera, Los Angles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Philharmonic, served as the artistic director of Los Robles Master Chorale from 2007 to 2022, and is currently the Principal Guest Conductor for San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with composers David Lang and Corey Fields on recordings of their choral works, in addition to co-producing albums with Lang. Leighton has prepared choruses for Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Bramwell Tovey, Leonard Slatkin, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson Thomas, Laura Jackson, and John Adams, and she was named the first associate conductor in the history of Los Angeles Master Chorale in July 2011, following a year as assistant conductor.
As a singer, Leighton has leant her voice to more than 100 film soundtracks, including Wish, DC Super Pets, Frozen I & II, and the X-Men series. A former member of both the Los Angeles Master Chorale and LA Opera choruses, Leighton was featured as a soloist in live performances as well as recordings, in addition to having sung as a soloist with Köln Opera, New York City Opera, Oslo Opera, and the LA Phil. She is currently music director at Glendale First United Methodist Church and is the Music Department Chair and Director of Conducting & Choral Music at California State University, San Bernardino.