Returning this past May 2019 from sailing around the world with her family and teaching music in remote destinations (RIGNEYSKANDU.COM), Dr. Rigney is opening her private Calabasas music studio teaching voice, piano and violin.
Dr. Leslie Dennis Rigney holds a Ph’d in Music from UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES, a Master’s in Music from CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE, and a Bachelor of Arts in French Literature and Economics from UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES. She sang 12 years for LOS ANGELES OPERA and regularly sings with REPERTORY OPERA COMPANY of Pomona during their noon and seasonal concerts. She is a current member of the professional group: ARETE VOCAL ENSEMBLE of Thousand Oaks and plays violin with VENTURA COLLEGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Her recording credits include Job’s Wife on the 2009 world premiere recording of Job’s Truth by Darius Holbert and Quinn’s new age album, The Solemn Vow available on amazon.com.
Dr. Rigney has been teaching voice privately for 20+ years – beginning, intermediate and advanced students. Her music studio also includes teaching beginning piano and violin. In addition to her private students, she taught young singers from the NATIONAL CHILDREN’S CHORUS during the 2012-2013 season, taught and directed the GOETHE INTL CHARTER SCHOOL Choir for 2 years and while living in the Marquesas for a year, taught students voice from the COLLEGE DE TAIOHAE Club Muzic.
During her tenure at UCLA, she studied voice with the current Vocal Studies Chair Juliana Gondek, Michael Dean & Vladimir Chernov. Dr. Rigney served as Vocal Department Teaching Assistant where she privately taught voice to UCLA Music Education Students. She created and taught the course: “Beginning Voice for Non-Music Majors,” first of its kind offered at UCLA. Currently in use, she also created “The Beginning Voice Teacher’s Handbook” for future voice TA’s. Her performance record at UCLA includes singing Feu, Princess et Rossignol in Ravel’s L’Enfant et Les Sortileges, and 3 recitals in which her “Viva la France” entrepreneurial recital in combination with LA VALLEY COLLEGE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA made the most money until that time for a doctoral UCLA recital. She delivered an innovative multi-visual concert performance of Colombine in Song at UCLA’s Popper Theater debuting Daniel Lincoln’s composition: “Coquette – The Confessions of a Modern-Day Colombine.” Her publication, The Significance of the Soubrette, stemming from her dissertation on the history of the soubrette voice and character type including best practical performance notes for Soubrette roles, is now available on amazon.com: ISBN-10: 3838333063.
In LOS ANGELES OPERA’s production of Il Trittico, she sang the comprimario role of 3rd Sister from Suor Angelica, 1st Noble Page in Tannhäuser, and in Le Nozze di Figaro she sang the soprano role of the Bridesmaid Duet. Dr. Rigney has performed with the LOS ANGELES OPERA Chorus in more than 30 productions including Don Giovanni, Nabucco, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Turandot, Tosca, Peter Grimes, Il Trovatore, La Bohème, La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein, Grendel, Don Carlo, Tannhäuser, Otello, Nozze di Figaro, Suor Angelica, Verdi Requiem, Don Giovanni, Jenufa, The Fly, Göttedämmerung, Die Gezeichneten, Lohengrin, Il Turco in Italia, L’Allegro, Eugine Onegin, Romeo et Juliette, Simon Boccanegra, I due Foscari, and Flying Dutchman.
Dr. Rigney, a NY Metropolitan Opera Regional Finalist, has sung lead roles with numerous California opera companies and orchestras garnering rave reviews. She has performed many times with longstanding LA regional REPERTORY OPERA COMPANY, most notably as Violetta in two productions of La Traviata. Other ROC roles include, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Adina in Elixir of Love, and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Describing her performance in Los Angeles’ INTIMATE OPERA COMPANY’s version of Cosi fan tutte, the Ventura County Star wrote, “Very personable and accomplished as the saucy Despina.” In reprising that role for Capitola’s BAY SHORE LYRIC OPERA, the Metro Santa Cruz wrote, “Dennis skillfully exaggerated her assigned role into an appealing character and delivered the best vocal display of the entire cast.” Singing for LYRIC OPERA OF LOS ANGELES’s L’Elisir d’amore, she performed as Adina and as Konstanze in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail where the Beverly Hills Outlook wrote “She portrayed Konstanze as a tragic figure. The coloratura passages and lyrical lines showed Dennis’ warm agile voice to its best advantage.”
Winner of PASADENA OPERA GUILD’s Vocal Achievement Award, Dr. Rigney has been intimately involved with several operatic outreach programs. As part of ORANGE COUNTY OPERA’s outreach program, she became their Spotlight Artist enthusing child audiences as Marie in Daughter of the Regiment. With her success as Gretel in THE GUILD OPERA OF LOS ANGELES’ Hansel and Gretel, The Guild asked Leslie to return as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ in their outreach production of Little Red Riding Hood.
Other companies she has sung principal roles with include San Francisco’s POCKET OPERA as Diana in Orpheus and the Underworld, Modesto’s TOWNSEND OPERA in The Merry Widow as Sonia, and as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. She has also performed with Palm Desert’s WEST COAST OPERA THEATER in Hansel and Gretel, as Gretel; with SOUTH BAY LIGHT OPERA in HMS Pinafore, as Josephine,and with SANTA MONICA OPERA THEATER in The Crucible, as Mary Warren. She reprised the role of Nathalie in The Merry Widow with THE PALISADES SYMPHONY.
In addition to opera, Dr. Dennis-Rigney has appeared as a featured artist several times with THE ST. MATTHEW’S CHAMBER ORCHESTRA. She has soloed with THE ANGELES CHORALE, with Lin White’s LOS ANGELES MUSIC THEATER COMPANY, CAMERATA OF LOS ANGELES, with Anne Marie Ketchum’s VERDI CHORUS, THE PALISADES SYMPHONY, MYSTERY EVENT THEATRE OF LOS ANGELES and THE LOS ANGELES CHAMBER SINGERS. She sang Mozart’s Requiem with THE CALIFORNIA DESERT CHORALE and was invited back to sing Handel’s Messiah. Dr. Dennis Rigney was featured regularly in Palm Desert with Derrick Lewis’ popular MUSICAL CHAIRS singing highlights from musicals such as Westside Story, Candide, Sweeney Todd and Phantom of the Opera.