Leslie Holmes - Biography

March 2012

Soprano Leslie Holmes, a graduate of Wellesley College, is well-known for her numerous solo appearances as well as for her radio program of eleven years on Classical Radio Boston, WCRB, 102.5 FM. She has been soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Opera Company of Boston, the Chorus Pro Musica, the MIT Choral Society, the Wellesley Choral Society, the Wellesley College Choir, the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, at Castle Hill, and at Hammond Castle. Ms. Holmes has performed solo recitals at the Gardner Museum, Great Woods, the Boston Public Library, the French Library, the Longy School of Music, the Boston Conservatory, Wellesley College, Northeastern University, throughout the East, Europe, and in Cuba, as well as on National Public Radio.

She has presented many lecture/recitals of music by women composers, French composers, classic American popular composers, and classical cabaret. She gave a lecture/recital entitled "The History of French Cabaret" at the summer of 1999 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) national workshop on the French Song. Leslie has given her ever-popular Cabaret français at, among other places, the French Library and Cultural Center, the Harvard Club, the French House at Wellesley College, Bard College, Brandeis University, and the Providence Athenaeum.

Ms. Holmes has given many master classes and writes a regular column called "The Vocal Point" for the new magazine Signature on women in music and for the NATS Journal. She has lectured on career choices and making a career in the arts for the Business Women's Network and at the Harvard Divinity School, Wellesley College, and Regis College. Leslie has given many pre-concert lectures and provided narrations with choruses and orchestras in the area. Leslie is the past New England Regional Governor of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), writes a column for the NATS Journal, and is a frequent adjudicator throughout New England. She is also the President Emerita of the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra and for 20 years hosted the Cabaret Open Mic at the Center for Arts in Natick. Leslie is Chair of the Advisory Board of the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists (BACA).

Due to the pandemic, Leslie Holmes has curtailed her performing and teaching at the present time.