Biography
Leilani is studying a Masters in Performance at the Royal College of Music with Sally Burgess and Andrew Robinson as a Drapers’ Company Scholar supported by a Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Scholarship. Previously, she completed a Postgraduate Diploma at the RCM with Distinction. In 2015, she graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Music from Royal Holloway College where she was a choral scholar for three years and was awarded the Dame Felicity Lott Bursary.
In competitions, she has received First Prize in The Courtney Kenny Award English Song Competition (2016) and was commended for her “appealingly rich sound” and “well chosen and heart-wrenching” programme of English Song. She she was described as “highly musical and intelligent” when awarded a Commendation in the RCM Lieder Competition (2017), adjudicated by tenor Nicky Spence. Most recently, she was 'Highly Commended' in The Mozart Singing Competition (2018), adjudicated by Audrey Hyland and Barbara Dix.
Leilani has sung with the Chorus of Opera Holland Park and Opera Rara. Her solo operatic roles include Nora (Riders to the Sea) with Midsummer Opera, Hansel (Hansel and Gretel) with Diva Opera and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with Opera Alegria. In RCM Opera Scenes she has performed the roles of Pinocchio (Dove The Adventures of Pinocchio), Rosina (Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Hélène (Chabrier Une éducation manquée). In upcoming opera scenes, she will sing Mary Crawford (Dove Mansfield Park) and Laola (Chabrier L'étoile). She will also appear in the Chorus for Opera Holland Park's 2019 Season, which will include a performance of The Rake's Progress as part of the Aldeburgh Festival at Snape Maltings (directed by Soprano Barbara Hannigan).
An experienced recitalist, Leilani has performed Schumann Frauenliebe und leben, Berlioz Les Nuits d’été and Beethoven An die Ferne Geliebte at venues such as Peterborough Cathedral and Royal Holloway College. At the RCM she has been involved in a project which explored the forgotten music of German composer Robert Kahn, and has since performed his music at The Liberal Jewish Synagogue as part of the lecture series ‘Love of Lieder’, the German Embassy in London and The Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Leilani is also a keen performer of jazz and cabaret music and will be performing a new programme of individual arrangements of songs from Poulenc to Bernstein with Jazz Pianist Neal Thornton in Oxford later this month.
Leilani’s solo oratorio performances as a mezzo have included Handel Dixit Dominus, Duruflé Requiem, Tarik O’Regan Triptych, Bach St John Passion, Schubert Magnificat, Haydn Missa Sancti Nicolai, Bach Magnificat, Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem, Fauré Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Vivaldi Gloria, Handel Messiah and Mozart Coronation Mass. Other solo performances of note include Rautavaara Vespers: Vigilia with The Choir of Royal Holloway (solos and chorus), Arvo Pärt Passio (Evangelist Quartet) with The Façade Ensemble and a solo appearance on BBC One broadcast live on Christmas Day (2017) from All Saints Church, Fulham, where she was the soprano choral scholar. She is looking forward to continuing her solo oratorio work as a soprano.
This biography is not for programmes. Please contact me for further information.
In competitions, she has received First Prize in The Courtney Kenny Award English Song Competition (2016) and was commended for her “appealingly rich sound” and “well chosen and heart-wrenching” programme of English Song. She she was described as “highly musical and intelligent” when awarded a Commendation in the RCM Lieder Competition (2017), adjudicated by tenor Nicky Spence. Most recently, she was 'Highly Commended' in The Mozart Singing Competition (2018), adjudicated by Audrey Hyland and Barbara Dix.
Leilani has sung with the Chorus of Opera Holland Park and Opera Rara. Her solo operatic roles include Nora (Riders to the Sea) with Midsummer Opera, Hansel (Hansel and Gretel) with Diva Opera and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) with Opera Alegria. In RCM Opera Scenes she has performed the roles of Pinocchio (Dove The Adventures of Pinocchio), Rosina (Rossini Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Hélène (Chabrier Une éducation manquée). In upcoming opera scenes, she will sing Mary Crawford (Dove Mansfield Park) and Laola (Chabrier L'étoile). She will also appear in the Chorus for Opera Holland Park's 2019 Season, which will include a performance of The Rake's Progress as part of the Aldeburgh Festival at Snape Maltings (directed by Soprano Barbara Hannigan).
An experienced recitalist, Leilani has performed Schumann Frauenliebe und leben, Berlioz Les Nuits d’été and Beethoven An die Ferne Geliebte at venues such as Peterborough Cathedral and Royal Holloway College. At the RCM she has been involved in a project which explored the forgotten music of German composer Robert Kahn, and has since performed his music at The Liberal Jewish Synagogue as part of the lecture series ‘Love of Lieder’, the German Embassy in London and The Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Leilani is also a keen performer of jazz and cabaret music and will be performing a new programme of individual arrangements of songs from Poulenc to Bernstein with Jazz Pianist Neal Thornton in Oxford later this month.
Leilani’s solo oratorio performances as a mezzo have included Handel Dixit Dominus, Duruflé Requiem, Tarik O’Regan Triptych, Bach St John Passion, Schubert Magnificat, Haydn Missa Sancti Nicolai, Bach Magnificat, Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem, Fauré Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Vivaldi Gloria, Handel Messiah and Mozart Coronation Mass. Other solo performances of note include Rautavaara Vespers: Vigilia with The Choir of Royal Holloway (solos and chorus), Arvo Pärt Passio (Evangelist Quartet) with The Façade Ensemble and a solo appearance on BBC One broadcast live on Christmas Day (2017) from All Saints Church, Fulham, where she was the soprano choral scholar. She is looking forward to continuing her solo oratorio work as a soprano.
This biography is not for programmes. Please contact me for further information.
