 RAY LESLEE (composer) For the theatre: A CHAMBER CHRISTMAS CAROL, an adaptation of Dickens for five actors and five musicians, premiered at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York in 2010, and featured Dominic Chianese (of The Sopranos) as Scrooge. AVENUE X, the original a cappella musical, began Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons and went on to over 50 award-winning productions around the world, earning 13 of Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards, including Best Musical at the Wilma Theatre. STANDUP SHAKESPEARE was directed by Mike Nichols and produced Off-Broadway by the Shuberts, presented twice by the Folger Shakespeare Library, toured the US and Canada, and was at the Culture Project in 2005 starring Alfred Molina, F. Murray Abraham and Alice Ripley. A GOOD MAN, a new musical about a Mississippi tenant farmer, was produced in Europe by The Vienna Chamber Opera, and will be seen in New York in June 2011. In 2010 he composed music for PALESTINE, by Najla Said (daughter of Edward Said) at New York Theatre Workshop. Over 75 original scores for the Actor’s Studio, the Acting Company, Steppenwolf Theatre, the Kennedy Center, ACT Seattle, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Great Lakes Festival, and Theater for a New Audience, to name a few. He was the composer-in-residence of Buffalo's popular Shakespeare In Delaware Park for fifteen seasons, where he created some 35 original musicals and adaptations. He is considered "one of the leading composers of music for Shakespeare in the world" according to the Washington Post and The NY Times. For the concert hall: In 2011, MAYA SONGS (The Poems of Maya Angelou) premiere with The Riverside Chamber Players (of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra). ROMEO & JULIET FOR ORCHESTRA & ACTORS commissioned by The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and The New Haven Symphony Orchestra. SHAKESPEARE SONGS and ANDANTE FOR STRINGS, both at St. Peter's Church in New York. NOCTURNE FOR VIOLIN & PIANO at the Dumbo Arts Festival and released by Innova Records 2010. His music has been recorded by RCA Victor, BMG Classics, Albany Records, Innova, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and many others. Educated at the Manhattan School of Music (Theory) and SUNY at Buffalo (B.A. in Music Theatre Composition and M.A. in Humanities). Former faculty at Hunter College, U.C. Santa Barbara, SUNY at Buffalo, and New York's LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts (FAME). Staff pianist for ten years at the Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey schools. As a young pop keyboard player, he toured with Jay and The Americans, The Platters, The Drifters, The Shirelles, Eddie Floyd and Honi Coles, to name a few. Honors and commissions include the Fellowship in Music Composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts (2002 and 2008), the Richard Rodgers Award, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Riverside Chamber Players, the Antara Ensemble, the Garland Award (Best Score for A Christmas Carol), the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, the American Music Center's CAP award, and the ASCAP Special Award annually since 1982. In 1997 he received The Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award for lifetime achievement and was honored at Lincoln Center. |