"Leigh Holman is one of the rarest jewels in the music world today. She is director, teacher and performer....an artist that is committed and immersed in the total art form."
-Anthony Dean Griffey
-Anthony Dean Griffey
Leigh Holman is an established stage director in the fields of Opera and Musical Theatre. Since joining the faculty of University of Colorado, Boulder as Director of CU Opera in 2009, Holman has mounted two highly successful and award-winning seasons.
In the 2009-2010 season, Holman directed a new Peter Dean Beck production of La Traviata, remounted a production of Don Giovanni, both in Macky Auditorium, and staged a new production of Rorem’s Our Town. Holman's presentation of Act I, Scene 1 of La Traviata took first place at the National Opera Association's 2010 Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition. Our Town also won 3rd place in Category III of the NOA Opera Production Competition.
In the summer of 2010, Holman served as founder, Artistic Director and Stage Director of CU New Opera Works (CU NOW), premiering new operatic works by Robert Aldridge, Herschel Garfein, Dan Kellogg and J. Michael Martinez.
The 2010-2011 CU Opera season, comprised entirely of American works, included Carousel, Susannah and Bernstein's Mass. Holman returned to the NOA 2011 Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition with a scene from Carmen, and brought home another first place win.
CU NOW returned in June 2011 with excerpts from Kirke Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice and Herschel Garfein’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: The Opera. The remainder of her summer was spent in the Friuli region of Italy where she directed La cambiale di matrimonio at the Piccolo Festival Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Holman looks forward to the 2011-2012 CU Opera season: Le nozze di Figaro, a double-bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi and a remounting of La cambiale di matrimonio.
Prior to her appointment at CU Boulder, Holman served as Director of the Opera Colorado Young Artists. There she directed two touring productions each season, in addition to concerts and other presentations to promote Opera Colorado and the young artists contracted into the program. Holman was previously Chair of the Voice and Opera Studies Area at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
She has directed and performed for companies and opera institutions including Portland Opera, Nashville Opera, National Opera, Wildwood Opera, Opera Theatre of Fort Collins, University of Colorado, University of Arkansas, and Eastman Opera Theatre. Some of her productions credits include Il barbiere di Siviglia, Hansel and Gretel, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, La Traviata, Falstaff, The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, The Tender Land, Amahl and the Night Visitors, La Cenerentola, The Sound of Music, Trial by Jury, Iolanthe, The Island of Tulipatan, La Curandera, Noye’s Fludde, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Side by Side by Sondheim, Red, Hot and Cole, Amadeus, The Odd Couple and many operatic and musical theatre scenes programs spanning from the Baroque period to Contemporary American works.
Holman has been a frequent opera lecturer including presentations of the pre-curtain lectures at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and Opera 101 presentations on KVOD. She holds a graduate Opera Performance degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Southern California. In addition to directing over 30 professional and academic operatic and musical theatre productions, she served as assistant director for Ron Daniels (Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in London) in his critically acclaimed production of Madama Butterfly at Opera Colorado and with James Robinson in the 2007 Opera Colorado production of La Traviata.
In the 2009-2010 season, Holman directed a new Peter Dean Beck production of La Traviata, remounted a production of Don Giovanni, both in Macky Auditorium, and staged a new production of Rorem’s Our Town. Holman's presentation of Act I, Scene 1 of La Traviata took first place at the National Opera Association's 2010 Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition. Our Town also won 3rd place in Category III of the NOA Opera Production Competition.
In the summer of 2010, Holman served as founder, Artistic Director and Stage Director of CU New Opera Works (CU NOW), premiering new operatic works by Robert Aldridge, Herschel Garfein, Dan Kellogg and J. Michael Martinez.
The 2010-2011 CU Opera season, comprised entirely of American works, included Carousel, Susannah and Bernstein's Mass. Holman returned to the NOA 2011 Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition with a scene from Carmen, and brought home another first place win.
CU NOW returned in June 2011 with excerpts from Kirke Mechem’s Pride and Prejudice and Herschel Garfein’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: The Opera. The remainder of her summer was spent in the Friuli region of Italy where she directed La cambiale di matrimonio at the Piccolo Festival Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Holman looks forward to the 2011-2012 CU Opera season: Le nozze di Figaro, a double-bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi and a remounting of La cambiale di matrimonio.
Prior to her appointment at CU Boulder, Holman served as Director of the Opera Colorado Young Artists. There she directed two touring productions each season, in addition to concerts and other presentations to promote Opera Colorado and the young artists contracted into the program. Holman was previously Chair of the Voice and Opera Studies Area at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
She has directed and performed for companies and opera institutions including Portland Opera, Nashville Opera, National Opera, Wildwood Opera, Opera Theatre of Fort Collins, University of Colorado, University of Arkansas, and Eastman Opera Theatre. Some of her productions credits include Il barbiere di Siviglia, Hansel and Gretel, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, La Traviata, Falstaff, The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, The Tender Land, Amahl and the Night Visitors, La Cenerentola, The Sound of Music, Trial by Jury, Iolanthe, The Island of Tulipatan, La Curandera, Noye’s Fludde, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Side by Side by Sondheim, Red, Hot and Cole, Amadeus, The Odd Couple and many operatic and musical theatre scenes programs spanning from the Baroque period to Contemporary American works.
Holman has been a frequent opera lecturer including presentations of the pre-curtain lectures at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House and Opera 101 presentations on KVOD. She holds a graduate Opera Performance degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Southern California. In addition to directing over 30 professional and academic operatic and musical theatre productions, she served as assistant director for Ron Daniels (Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in London) in his critically acclaimed production of Madama Butterfly at Opera Colorado and with James Robinson in the 2007 Opera Colorado production of La Traviata.
"[Holman] brings exceptional directorial and musical talents to her role as head of Opera Colorado's Young Artists' project. I marvel at her every day...."
-Ellie Caulkins
-Ellie Caulkins
