Leslie Allison (they/them) is a queer interdisciplinary composer based in Los Angeles. Leslie’s live and recorded compositions have appeared in composer showcases (Elastic Arts, Chicago), plays (New York Theatre Workshop, The Brick, HERE Arts), dance performances (New York Live Arts, Columbia University), and art films (The Kitchen, Tang Museum, LACMA).

Alongside an original working methodology called somatic composition, Leslie has developed an approach to teaching musical expression that centers the whole body as the instrument. Through their private music studio, Resonant Body, Leslie teaches somatic singing and composition in private lessons, group workshops, and choral ensembles, with a particular focus on trans/gender-non-conforming voices.

Leslie has performed as a vocalist for Matmos, Miguel Gutierrez, Cassils, and lucky dragons, and trained with Rome Prize-winner Paula Matthusen, MacArthur Genius Tyshawn Sorey, composer and textile artist Eliza Hardy Jones, master Carnatic vocalist B. Balasubrahmaiyan, and National Medal of Arts-winner Meredith Monk and her vocal ensemble, among other artists of diverse creative lineages.

A graduate of the Wesleyan University Masters Program in Music Composition (‘19), Leslie has been accepted into residencies at the New Amsterdam Records Composer's Lab, Abrons Art Center, the Wassaic Project, and the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild. Leslie has published their writings about music and dance for The Chicago Reader and The Brooklyn Rail, and their illustrated chapbook of poetry, Martha, was released by Ugly Duckling Presse.