Leigh Folta, Soprano

A native New Yorker, lyric soprano Leigh Folta has recently been making her mark on the Chicago music scene. She was a 2017 semi-finalist in the Classical Singer competition, and was named first place winner at the 2016 Chicago Chapter NATS competition. She has been seen on stage at Pritzker Pavilion with the Grant Park Chorus and on Symphony Center stage with the Chicago Symphony Chorus. 

 

Leigh has been praised for her “…gorgeous expressive face and gorgeous voice (The Oregon Music Times, 2015)," and has been celebrated as "...a standout, acting naturally and displaying an agile soprano that could vault up to top notes with no strain (Chicago Classical Review, 2019)." 

 

Leigh recently wrapped up her second season as a Vocal Chamber Fellow with the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago and continues to sing with the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Leigh's most recent operatic appearance was with Chicago Fringe Opera, with whom she workshopped and sang the Chicago premiere as Echo in Christoper Cerrone's Love Wounds. In 2018, she was as a Young Artist with the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, where she appeared as Maggie Anderson in their production of Brigadoon and as a handmaiden in their January 2018 production of Turandot. She was a 2017 Young Artist with the Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, NY and  reprised the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.  In 2016, Leigh  began performing with Chicago Fringe Opera and appeared in their productions of Missy Mazzoli’s Song From the Uproar in 2016 and William Bolcom’s Lucrezia in 2017. Her roles to date include Poppea/L'incoronazione di Poppea, LPN/Bluebeard's Waiting Room, Pamina, Papagena, and 2nd Spirit/Die Zauberflöte, Anne of the Cross/Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Suor Osmina/Suor Angelica.

 

Leigh holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and a Master of Music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts.