Recently appointed Music Director of the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, Leslie Dala is also the Music Director of the Vancouver Bach Choir in addition to his positions as the Associate Conductor and Chorus Director with Vancouver Opera. He recently stepped down as Music Director of the Prince George Symphony which he led for eight years and was the longest serving conductor in the organization’s forty year history. A member of the Vancouver Opera music staff since 1996, he recently conducted their production of West Side Story in addition to Rigoletto and The Threepenny Opera, and he has assisted on over 50 mainstage productions and has adapted numerous works for the VOIS program.

Leslie has been a member of the music staff at L’Opera National du Rhin, the Santa Fe Opera and the Canadian Opera Company and he has been a frequent  guest conductor with the UBC Opera Ensemble. Recent performances include guest conducting engagements with Soundstreams Canada in Toronto at the new Koerner Concert Hall, the Thirteen Strings of Ottawa and the Rachmaninoff Vespers and The Damnation of Faust by Berlioz with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. This past summer Leslie conducted  Britten’s Albert Herring with the UBC Opera Ensemble, Lillian Alling by John Estacio for the Banff Summer Festival, and the Opening Night Gala for MusicFest Vancouver with Sarah McLachlan and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming performances include The Goh Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker ballet and Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Haydn’s Creation with the Vancouver Bach Choir.