LESLIE NEWMAN, FLUTE

Leslie Newman made her professional debut at the age of eighteen with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, performing Carl Nielsen's Flute Concerto under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis. She was subsequently featured as soloist with the Toronto Symphony at the Calgary Winter Olympics Arts Festival in Jack Singer Hall.

Following graduate studies at Yale University and Juilliard Leslie settled in England where, in the space of a few short years, she presented live solo BBC Radio broadcasts from almost every major centre including the world-famous Wigmore Hall, where her two solo recitals were broadcast live by the BBC's Radio 3. She has performed with orchestras throughout Canada and in the U.S. and U.K. and has presented recitals in New York, Montreal, at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, the National Museum in Bogotá, Colombia and Taipei's National Concert Hall as well as touring Canada with Debut Atlantic and Jeunesses Musicales.

As guest Principal Flautist she has performed with the Hallé Orchestra under Kent Nagano, the Bournemouth Symphony and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She has toured through Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Europe and the U.S. with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Festival appearances include Banff, Belle-Ile (France), Bogotá, Clear Lake (Manitoba), Salzburg, Sorrento, the Stratford International Flute Festival (UK) and the Oregon Bach Festival.

Leslie's performances have been broadcast by radio and television stations in Europe and North America. Her debut CD, Beyond the Iron Curtain, released by CALA/United, was described by Gramophone Magazine as an "…immensely worthwhile contribution to the catalogue." Her second solo CD, Opera Fantaisie, was described as "…faultless, perhaps even definitive readings of repertoire from the 'golden age of the flute'" (Wholenote Magazine, May 2007).

A native of Alberta, Leslie won First Prize in the Canadian National Competitive Festival of Music at the age of seventeen. Upon completion of her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Toronto, she was awarded a Canada Council Grant to study with the legendary Thomas Nyfenger at Yale University. While still a student at Yale, Leslie won Top Prize in the woodwind category of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's National Young Performers' Competition. Following the completion of her Master's degree at Yale University, where she was named Outstanding Performance Major, Leslie moved to New York where she continued her studies with Julius Baker at the renowned Juilliard School.

Leslie lives in Toronto, where she is on the Flute Faculty at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School. She holds a Juris Doctor (Law) degree from the University of Toronto.

Photo Credit: Robert Divito