Ray Leslee received the 2008 Fellowship in Music Composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Also in 2008 his ANDANTE FOR STRINGS premiered with the Antara Ensemble at St. Peter's Church in New York. His latest musical A GOOD MAN, with libretto by Philip S. Goodman, had it's world premiere at the Vienna Chamber Opera (The Kammeroper), in 2007.
Mr. Leslee’s compositions for the theatre include AVENUE X, The A Cappella Musical (New York’s Playwrights Horizons), which won The Richard Rodgers Award, Los Angeles Ovation Awards, L.A. Weekly Awards, Best Musical in Dallas and Austin, along with Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for Best Musical 1997. He produced the cast album for RCA Victor/BMG Classics. “There is a vitality about this show, a real freshness.” - Martin Gottfried, NY Law Journal. “Rediscovering what musicals are all about.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times. He composed and conducted STANDUP SHAKESPEARE, directed by Mike Nichols, and produced Off-Broadway by the Shubert Organization. In 1995, Ray directed it at the Folger Shakespeare Library, where he produced the cast album and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award. In 2002 it was produced in Los Angeles. “An ingenious patchwork of song and story.” – The Washington Post. “77 minutes of enchantment.” – Edith Oliver, The New Yorker.
Off-Broadway: original music for Richard Greenberg’s THE AUTHOR’S VOICE and Peter Hedge’s IMAGINING BRAD (for the Drama Dept.), EDUCATING RITA (with the Steppenwolf Theatre in NY), THE COMMON PURSUIT (Simon Gray’s Pulitzer Prize-winner), THE LIVING NEWSPAPER (Ensemble Studio Theatre), and TWELFTH NIGHT (Theatre for a New Audience). He created music for THE LAST ENEMY, a play produced by the United Nations that brought together Israeli and Palestinian actors for the first time – and for an international tour. Regional theatre: original scores for Tennessee Williams’ THE NOTEBOOK OF TRIGORIN (A Contemporary Theatre); NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); LITTLE EGYPT (Steppenwolf Theatre); CYRANO (Barrington Stage); AS YOU LIKE IT (Great Lakes Festival); THE BEAUX STRATAGEM (Studio Arena Theatre); and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Tennessee Repertory Theatre and San Diego Repertory Theatre) for which he received Backstage Magazine’s “Garland Award” for Best Score.)
In classical music, Mr. Leslee’s first symphony "ROMEO & JULIET FOR ORCHESTRA & ACTORS" had its world premiere with The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra July 2000. It was performed June 2003 by The New Haven Symphony Orchestra as part of The International Festival of Arts & Ideas. “Leslee’s music is of a transparent beauty... melodious, with a bracing sense of drama... embracing the sweetness and captivating lyricism of Leonard Bernstein’s romantic utterances, combined with the directness, openness and folk simplicity of Darius Milhaud... a resounding success.” - Herman Trotter, The Buffalo News.
In film, Mr. Leslee has written music for French and Swiss television and won Best Documentary Score for ANDRE ROCH (a pioneering Swiss mountain climber). He scored a number of short films for the United Jewish Communities in New York and for The United Nations in Geneva. He's also scored television commercials for Wendy's, Sharp Electronics, Delta Airlines, Jacoby & Meyers, and Philip Goodman's "Painted People". In 2001, he received a scholarship from ASCAP to study film scoring techniques with the legendary Disney composer Buddy Baker at NYU.
In dance, for ten years (1980s) he was a staff accompanist for The Martha Graham Company and The Alvin Ailey Company. His original ballet, LOCAL STOPS, was scored for live jazz quartet, and premiered at The Joyce Theatre in New York with The Eleo Pomare Dance Company.
In pop music, as an 18-year-old rock & roll pianist, he toured with such legendary performers and Jay and The Americans, The Platters, Leslie Gore, The Shirelles, The Drifters, The Capris, and Eddie Floyd.
Mr. Leslee was educated at The Manhattan School of Music and The State University of New York at Buffalo (B.A. in Music and Theatre; M.A. in Humanities.) He has been an Associate Professor at Hunter College in New York and the University of California at Santa Barbara (Music Director/Dance Division.) Commissioned by The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Meet the Composer, The Mary Flager Carey Charitable Trust, Shakespeare In Delaware Park Inc., and many others. He has been a panelist for The Richard Rodgers Awards for the past ten years. A 2002 winner of the Fellowship in Music Composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and a 2003 winner of The Concordia Career Award. In 1996 he received the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theatre Award and was honored at Lincoln Center for his contribution to the American theatre.