Anna Leese

Unreferenced|date=August 2008

Anna Leese (born 7 March 1981) is a New Zealand born soprano opera singer. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2007, as Musetta in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème.

She graduated and earned multiple prizes at the University of Otago, plus the 2002 Mobil Song Quest, before moving to London for graduate work at the Royal College of Music and at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School. She performed at Opéra Les Azuriales Festival at Cap Ferat in 2007 and sang solo arias by Mozart, Gounod, Bizet, Dvořák, Puccini and 'Cara la mia fiamma' from "Adriano in Siria" by J C Bach in Seillans and Mons in the Var, France at the 2007 Musique-Cordiale Festival. Other Covent Garden engagements in 2007 were as Micaela in "Carmen" and Echo in "Ariadne auf Naxos".

In 2008, she sings Musetta in La Boheme at Covent Garden, sings the choral solo in Beethoven's Fantasia in the Last night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall before going on tour to Korea with Jose Carreras. She has an extensive New Zealand tour at Christmas, soon followed by the Mozart Requiem in Canterbury Cathedral in January 2009. Among many other 2009 scheduled recitals and performances, there is a further series with Carreras in New Zealand, concerts in Germany, Belgium & Britain and return solo performances at the Musique-Cordiale Festival in Seillans, France (August 2009) and the Linari Festival in Tuscany, Italy (July 2009). She is due to sing Tatyana in Eugene Onegin for the New Zealand Opera and March 2009 sees her North American debut as Musetta for the Canadian Opera Company.

Anna Leese supported Andrea Bocelli at his concert in Auckland, New Zealand at the Vector Arena on 20th August 2008.

External links

*Anna Leese [http://www.annaleese.com/ official site]
*Anna Leese at Linari Classic Festival [http://www.linariclassic.com/musicians/anna_leese.html]