Mélanie Léonard
Born in Montréal, Mélanie Léonard is the Music Director of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra. She was also Resident Conductor (2009-2012) and then Associate Conductor (2012-2013) with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
Léonard has appeared as guest conductor at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and with a number of Canadian orchestras, including the Toronto, Edmonton and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras, and the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal. In 2014, she founded the Wild West New Music Ensemble in Calgary, and served as Music Director and Conductor of the group until 2016.
In 2019-2020, she will be making her debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Les Violons du Roy and the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra. She also has return engagements with the NAC Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia and Thunder Bay Symphony.
Ms. Léonard is a sought-after conductor for varied recording projects, including movie soundtracks, multimedia projects and, more recently, Wonderbox at Paradise City – an immersive environment in a South Korean hotel complex.
Mélanie Léonard completed her Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting at the Université de Montréal under Maestri Paolo Bellomia and Jean-François Rivest. In 2012, she received the Jean-Marie Beaudet prize in orchestral conducting, awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts.