bio

Ray Leslee composed Avenue X, the award-winning a cappella musical about racial tensions in New York, was produced Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, and over 50 productions around the world; Standup Shakespeare, directed by Mike Nichols on Broadway, featured F. Murray Abraham, Alfred Molina and Alice Ripley in various productions, and Jeff Perry at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 2018; Educating Rita and Little Egypt also at Steppenwolf; Palestine at New York Theatre Workshop; A Steady Rain national tour; The Three Musketeers national tour; A Good Man at the Vienna Chamber Opera in Austria and the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, to name a few. Currently: Maya Songs, the poetry of Maya Angelou.

For the concert hall: A Chamber Christmas Carol, Ray's adaptation of the Dickens classic for five actors & five musicians, commissioned by the Morgan Library & Museum; Romeo & Juliet For Orchestra & Actors with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; Three Virtues for string orchestra with the Ukraine National Symphony and filmed for the Soho Film Festival in 2020; Nocturne for violin & piano (Innova Records); and Spring Dances for violin & cello, commissioned by members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; to name a few. Currently: The Learned Ladies, a comic opera based on the play by Moliere, with a new libretto by Brian Dykstra (HBO's Def Poetry Jam). 

Born in New York City, Ray was a teenage pianist with Jay and The Americans, The Platters, The Shirelles, Leslie Gore and many other legendary rock groups – and later for Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and other major American dance companies. He won the Richard Rodgers Award twice and was a long-time panelist for the same awards, chaired by Stephen Sondheim. He is a two-time winner of the fellowship in music composition at New York Foundation for the Arts and serves as a mentor for NYFA's Immigrant Artists Program. Honors include Philadelphia’s Barrymore Awards (incl Best Musical for Avenue X), L.A. Ovation Awards, the Helen Hayes award, and the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Award for musical theatre, which he received at Lincoln Center. Educated at the Manhattan School of Music and SUNY at Buffalo (B.A./M.A. in music and theatre).