Ms. Sandefur has sung with numerous opera companies and festivals including San Francisco Opera, Nevada Opera, Cinnabar Opera, Stern Grove Festival, Berkeley Opera, Sacramento Opera, Opera San Jose, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Pocket Opera, Lyric Theatre of San Jose, Bear Valley Music Festival, Golden Gate Opera, Townsend Opera Players, and the Lamplighters of San Francisco. Notable roles include Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan Tutte), Mistress Ford (Merry Wives of Windsor), Mimí (La Bohème), Magda (La Rondine) and the title roles in Massenet’s Cendrillon, and Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha.
Ms. Sandefur has won 1st place in the Leontyne Price National Vocal Competition and made her debut at Carnegie Hall, shortly after. She is the winner of many other competitions including the Pacific Musical Society Vocal Award where she received a full scholarship to study opera and the Italian language at Centro Studi Italiani, in Urbania, Italy. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Nevada and Master of Music degree from CSU Sacramento. She has also completed graduate work in opera at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Leslie Sandefur’s soprano voice has been hailed by critics as “a radiant, deeply expressive instrument that is precisely focused and well- knit throughout.” Most recently she performed the role of Isabella in Wagner’s, Das Liebesverbot with Pocket Opera of San Francisco. Other recent notable appearances include performing with Sacramento Opera as a soloist for their Link Up program, in the chorus with Andrea Bocelli at the Golden 1 Center and as 1st Lady in Pocket Opera’s animated version of Mozart’s, The Magic Flute. As a resident of the city of Elk Grove and member of the Elk Grove Arts Commission since 2015, she also enjoys planning, co-producing, and performing in various local events around town.
In 2021, the city of Elk Grove graciously inducted her into their Hall of Fame for her volunteer work and artistic accomplishments. Locally she performed The Star-Spangled Banner as part of Salute to Red White and Blue, on ABC 10-Sacramento. She frequently performs recitals at Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum, Westminster Music at Noon Concert Series and at local colleges promoting local arts education and the works of African American classical composers.
On the concert stage, Ms. Sandefur was soloist in Beethoven’s, Choral Fantasy with Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. Other recent performances include, Dream Variations, with the Sacramento Youth Symphony in which she performed arias, musical theater works and spirituals. For the City of Elk Grove, she was a soloist in Lullaby of Broadway and For the Love of Music and the Strauss Festival. In Modesto, she has sung the role of Gincy in Modesto Opera’s world premiere of Tawawa House by Zenobia Powell Perry and was a featured recitalist with the company.
A native of the Sacramento area, Ms. Sandefur has sung with numerous opera companies and festivals including Nevada Opera, the Stern Grove Festival, Carlsen Center of Kansas
City, Berkeley Opera, Opera San Jose, Cinnabar Opera, Pocket Opera, Lyric Theatre of San Jose, Bear Valley Music Festival, Golden Gate Opera, and the Lamplighters of San Francisco. Notable operatic roles include Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan Tutte), Mistress Ford (Merry Wives of Windsor), Mimí (La Bohème), Magda (La Rondine) and the title roles in Massenet’s, Cendrillon, and Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha. She has also sung with the San Francisco Opera Chorus.
Ms. Sandefur won the Leontyne Price National Vocal Competition at age 20, and made her Carnegie Hall debut, shortly after. She is the winner of many competitions including the Pacific Musical Society Vocal Award for which she received a full scholarship to Centro Studi Italiani, in Urbania, Italy. During her stay, she was a guest soloist in Sant’ Angelo and toured the countryside performing opera scenes and arias. She studied Opera at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Nevada and Masters of Music degree from CSU Sacramento. She proudly maintains a private vocal studio with many accomplished vocalists, many of whom have received vocal scholarships to pursue their own passion in musical studies.
