Biography
Leigh Holman is the Director of Opera at the University of Colorado and is an established stage director in the fields of Opera and Musical Theatre. Before joining the faculty at CU, she served as Director of the Opera Colorado Young Artists. There she staged two touring productions per season, concerts and other presentations to promote Opera Colorado and the performers in the program. Holman was previously Chair of the Voice and Opera Studies Area at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and founded the UALR Opera Theatre, still a thriving program. She has directed, assistant directed and performed for such companies and opera institutions as Opera Colorado, Central City Opera Outreach, Portland Opera, Nashville Opera, National Opera, Wildwood Opera, Opera Theatre of Fort Collins, University of Colorado, University of Arkansas, Eastman Opera Theatre, Nashville Circle Players and others. Some of her productions directing and assistant directing include La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Our Town, il barbiere di Siviglia, Hansel and Gretel, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, Falstaff, The Merry Widow, Die Fledermaus, 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, Marry Me a Little, Red, Hot and Cole and many operatic and musical theatre scenes programs spanning from the Baroque period to Contemporary American works. Holman, a mezzo-soprano, received a graduate Opera Performance degree on full fellowship from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from The University of Colorado at Boulder. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Southern Califormia. In addition to directing over 25 professional and academic operatic and musical theatre productions, notably she has served as assistant director for Ron Daniels (Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in London) in his critically acclaimed production of Madama Butterfly and Jim Robinson's luxurious La Traviata, both at Opera Colorado. In her first season at CU Opera, Holman directed La Traviata, Don Giovanni and Our Town. Ticket sales were the highest the program has seen in its history. This summer, Holman's new program CU NOW (CU New Opera Workshop) will open its first season, workshopping new American opera works from established American composers. She is married to Doyle Johnson and resides in Boulder, Colorado.
Click below to download Holman's Curriculum Vitae and Philosophy of Teaching
| holman.pdf |
| philosophy.pdf |
"Opera lovers take note. In a remarkably short period of time, Leigh Holman, director of the UALR Opera Theatre Workshop, has built opera into a student activity worthy of broad community support."
Max Brantley, Arkansas Times, 2005
Goodboyjake Creations. 2009.