BIOGRAPHY

Laura Leigh Spillane, DMA, is the Interim Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Tennessee, where she directs the Concert Choir and teaches courses in choral music education, conducting, and graduate choral literature. Prior to her appointment at the University of Tennessee, she served on the faculty at Saddleback and Scripps Colleges in Southern California, directing the Saddleback Chamber Singers, Claremont Concert Choir, and Claremont Treble Choir. Laura Leigh is pleased to serve as Founding Artistic Director of Summit Choral Collective, a non-profit community choral organization based in Knoxville, TN which launched its first season in Fall 2024.

A passionate music educator with five years of secondary school teaching experience, Laura Leigh was the Choral Director and Music Theory instructor at Riverwood International Charter School and the Director of Music Ministries at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to her appointment at Riverwood, Laura Leigh was the choral director at Osborne Middle School, where she directed seven choral ensembles. Through her recruitment initiatives, she enjoyed growing the choral ensembles at Osborne Middle School by 47%, from 220 enrolled singers in 2015 to 324 in 2018. Under her direction, ensembles consistently scored superior ratings at Large Group Performance Evaluation. She was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Georgia American Choral Directors’ Association Young Director Award in 2019. She has enjoyed serving as a choral clinician and guest lecturer for numerous organizations.

Laura Leigh holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Music from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, the master of Music degree in Conducting from the University of Georgia, and the Bachelor's degree in Music Education from Reinhardt University, where she was a summa cum laude graduate. As Senior Teaching Assistant for the USC Thornton School of Music, she served as the Associate Conductor of the school’s premier choral ensemble, the USC Chamber Singers (2021-2023), and the Lead Conductor of the USC University Chorus (2020-2021). At UGA, she was a Carl Hoveland Fellow, and enjoyed conducting Women’s Glee and Repertory Singers as a graduate assistant. She sang Soprano 1 in the Hodgson Singers, the Grand Prix-winning ensemble of the 2014 Ave Verum international choral competition in Austria. Additionally, she was the opera chorusmaster for Donizetti’s L’elisir d’Amore presented by UGA Opera Theatre in 2014. She was honored with the UGA Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award in 2015.

As a vocalist, Laura Leigh has performed with choirs at state, regional, and national levels of ACDA, the annual conference of the Georgia Music Educators’ Association, and has performed on several international choir tours. She has served as a professional soprano in various ensembles in Georgia and California. She has performed in backup choirs on stage with performers including Kathleen Battle, Andrea Bocelli, and The Eagles. She enjoyed six seasons singing Soprano 1 with the Atlanta Master Chorale.

Her conducting teachers include Drs. Cristian Grases, Tram Sparks, Larry Livingston, Daniel Bara, J.D. Burnett, and Martha Shaw. She has worked in conducting institutes and masterclasses with Drs. Joseph Flummerfelt, William Weinert, Craig Hella Johnson, Andrew Megill, Amanda Quist, Jefferson Johnson, Deanna Joseph, and Donald Nally. She is an active member of ACDA, NAfME, and NCCO.

POSITIONS

2023-present, Interim Associate Director of Choral Activities, Assistant Adjunct Professor, Lecturer in Music Education | University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN | Director, UT Concert Choir

2022-2023, Associate Faculty, Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, CA | Director, Saddleback Chamber Singers

2022-2023, Visiting Lecturer, Scripps College, Claremont, CA | Interim Director, Claremont Concert Choir

2020-2023, Teaching Assistant, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA | Associate Conductor, USC Chamber Singers; Conductor, USC University Chorus

2022, Assistant Conductor, National Children’s Chorus, Los Angeles, CA

2018-2020, Choral Director, Riverwood International Charter School, Sandy Springs, GA

2017-2020, Director of Music Ministries, Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, Lilburn, GA

2015-2018, Choral Director, Osborne Middle School, Hoschton, GA

2013-2016, Choir Director, Faith Presbyterian Church, Athens, GA

2013-2015, Teaching Assistant, University of Georgia

EDUCATION

D.M.A. Choral Conducting, University of Southern California ‘23
Academic field: Musicology; Elective fields: Instrumental Conducting and Vocology

M.M. Choral Conducting, University of Georgia ‘15

B.M.E. Choral Music Education, Reinhardt University ‘13