Lesley writes acoustic music that shimmers and glows and floats and crunches and spins out, among other things. Her works have been performed across North America and Europe by various ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Arditti String Quartet, Sound Icon, Land’s End Ensemble, Ensemble Resonance, Ensemble l’Arsenale, Strata Ensemble, UltraViolet, Caution Tape Sound Collective, and Vertixe Sonora.
Her works have been showcased in numerous festivals including Third Practice (Virginia), the National Arts Centre Summer Music Institute (Ottawa), the Composit New Music Festival (Italy), the Strata Festival (aka Sask New Music), the Toronto Creative Music Lab, New Music Edmonton’s ‘Now Hear This’ Festival, Ensemble Evolution at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and as a soundtrack to a haunted house at École Westlock Elementary.
Lesley lives in Calgary AB, and received her Doctorate in Composition from Boston University in 2014, studying under Joshua Fineberg. She has her Bachelor of Music in Composition from the University of Calgary, and Masters of Music from the University of British Columbia, and co-founded the Boston-based Acoustic Uproar concert series with Heather Stebbins.
Lesley teaches music theory and composition in the School of Performing & Creative Arts at the University of Calgary, and was the co-Artistic Director of New Works Calgary alongside Rebecca Bruton from 2020-2022. She’s also an arts administrator, working as the General Manager for Calgary Arts Development.
RECENT PERFORMANCES
November 4, 2023 in Calgary - A Calgary Composers Celebration with Land’s End Ensemble, featuring a newly revised version of bleary for piano trio.
May 15, 2022 in Calgary - National Music Centre presents King Eddy Classical with New Works Calgary - featuring works for strings by myself and Rebecca Bruton
June 18, 2022 in Edmonton - Premiere of framing for UltraViolet at New Music Edmonton’s Now Hear This festival at Muttart Hall, available to stream on Vimeo.
PRIOR
May 18, 2019 in Fagana, Italy - performance of in lightness (2013) by accordionist Luca Piovesan at Salotto Musicale FVG. Details on Luca's website, or on the Salotto Musicale Events Calendar.
December 18, 2018 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Premiere of shades of white for Vertixe Sonora, performed at the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea. Video here!
June 9, 2018 in Calgary - Premiere of bleary for the Land's End Ensemble. Details here.
March 24, 2018 in Toronto - from within, Caution Tape Sound Collective at Array Music. Details here.
January 20, 2018 in Calgary - Premiere of cute, meaningless by Veronique Mathieu and Stephanie Chua. Details here.