LEILA ALEXANDER
SOPRANO AND OPERAMAKER,
LEILA ALEXANDER, IS
WORKING AT THE
INTERSECTION OF OPERA,
TO FORGE NEW PATHS FOR TRADITIONAL ART FORMS
BIOGRAPHY
Leila Alexander is an Anglo-Indian soprano, operamaker, and immersive arts producer. In 2025, she opens the season as Musetta in Regents Opera’s touring production of La bohème, directed by Sasha Regan and conducted by Ben Woodward. Leila’s own immersive operatic work is currently being piloted as the premiere event for the UKRI Immersive Opera Grant, in collaboration with Dr. Toby Young, Radical Realities Studios, and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She was recently appointed Artistic Associate and Host of the inaugural Shakespeare in Music Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon.
A compelling figure at the intersection of opera and contemporary art, Leila frequently collaborates with leading artists on immersive, interdisciplinary work. In 2024, she performed in Gabrielle Goliath’s Elegy at the Venice Biennale, and appeared in Dom Bouffard’s [Un]Reliable Witness at Gallery 46 in London. Her past work includes singing Schubert Lieder in Lee Mingwei’s The Art of Participation: Sonic Blossom, staged in major international galleries
A graduate of the Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Programme, Leila trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under Yvonne Kenny AM, where she was selected in her first term to participate in the Royal Opera House coaching programme. She also trained at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, studying major roles including Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Anne Truelove (The Rake’s Progress), Ilia (Idomeneo), Marguerite (Faust), and Valetto/Amore (L’incoronazione di Poppea). She also performed scenes from Les pêcheurs de perles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tolomeo, and The Tsar’s Bride.
Leila has performed at leading venues internationally, including Wigmore Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Tbilisi Opera House, the Kiri Te Kanawa Centre, and the Mozarteum. She made her Wigmore Hall debut in a recital of Janáček’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared and Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs, accompanied by Julius Drake for BBC broadcast. She was also due to perform Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with Bloomsbury Opera, cancelled due to Covid-19.
Leila has also performed oratorio repertory including Fauré’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and premiered contemporary opera including Len Lye the Opera (De Castro Robinson), State of Mind (Ah Sam), and Kiri Masterclass (Scholes).
Her accolades include being a semi-finalist in the Opera Crown International Competition (2021), finalist in the Medici Opera Competition (2021), finalist in the International Cadenza Competition (2020), and semi-finalist in both the Royal Overseas League Competition (2020) and Premiere Opera Foundation & NYIOP International Vocal Competition.
Leila also works as a producer and curator of opera and interdisciplinary performance. As Company Manager and Producer at Pegasus Opera Company, she produced all major productions from 2023–2025. These included Toutes Les Femmes, a double bill of Poulenc’s La voix humaine and the UK premiere of Philip Hagemann’s Roman Fever, co-produced with Hagemann Rosenthal Associates (Tony & Olivier Award-winning Broadway producers); Windrush: The Journey, a national concert tour and immersive exhibition in partnership with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; and Opera Royale, a double bill of Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante and Hagemann’s Dark Lady of the Sonnets. She also facilitated the Pegasus Mentorship Programme in partnership with Glyndebourne, and ran the company’s affiliated talent agency.
Leila is also an emerging thought leader in opera. She was invited in 2024 to speak as a panelist at Opera America’s A Global Dialogue in Opera and has served as a consultant to Operabase. Her previous professional experience includes working as a commercial lawyer, as a cultural critic, and in arts strategy and development at the Institute of International Visual Arts (iniva).
Earlier in her career, she sang as a soloist for major international sporting events, including the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Bledisloe Cup, and recorded for the Rugby World Cup Anthem Soundtrack. She was also the lead actress in the nominated New Zealand feature film Stars in Her Eyes.