Leslie Tay's portrayal of Jupiter in New Opera Singapore's Orpheus in the Underworld was applauded by the Straits Times for being “impressive”, with acting and singing “the most convincing among the male cast”. He is an astonishingly versatile artiste, performing in opera, musical theatre, pop a cappella and theatre. His eclectic musical repertoire spans Renaissance music to challenging contemporary works. His 2018 performances include the first fully staged free opera performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at the Esplanade Concourse; a 53 show run of the role of the Emperor in Singapore Repertory Theatre's revival of the children's musical, The Nightingale; a concert of all Russian song in celebration of Russia's Victory Day; the singing of Schubert lieder as part of Lee Ming Wei's art installation Sonic Blossom at the National Gallery as well as collaborations with Indian Classical musicians and T.H.E Dance Company.
Leslie made his Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall debut in 2009 with New York Lyric Opera as Guillot in Massenet's Manon. He has sung a diverse and colourful range of roles with Singapore and American opera companies such as Singapore Lyric Opera, L'arietta, Bellepoque, Dicapo Opera, Bronx Opera, Amore Opera, Boston Opera Collaborative and dell'Arte Opera Ensemble in operas such as L'elisir d'amore, La Cenerentola, Semiramide, L'incoronazione di Poppea, Don Giovanni, La Gazza Ladra, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Alcina, The Fairy Queen, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Turn of the Screw, The Snow Maiden, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Turandot, and Ariadne auf Naxos. He has also sung with the Boston Lyric Opera Chorus and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (Boston Symphony Orchestra). He was a young artiste in Lorin Maazel's 2011 Castleton Festival.
As a singing actor, Leslie was cast as the lead in the world premiere of the musical My Love is Blind by Musical Theatre Limited in 2016, in which he played a blind man. He has also sung for local cabaret act, Dim Sum Dollies, for three of their productions. Leslie trained as an actor with Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) Young Company where he played Banquo in Shakespeare's Macbeth and was part of the pioneering batch of Young & Wild (Wild Rice).
A passionate educator, Leslie not only conducts school choirs but is also on the voice faculties of several music schools including School of the Arts (SOTA). His students have scored distinctions in ABRSM, LCM and LAMDA examinations and have placed in competitions such as the 2016 SLO-ASEAN Vocal Competition, the American Protege Competition held at Carnegie Hall and the Brilliant Talent Discovery Awards. They have also been invited to perform in Childaid 2016/17/18 and the touring productions of The Sound of Music (Singapore, 2017) and Evita (Singapore, 2018)
Leslie graduated from the Manhattan School of Music and Boston Conservatory. His teachers include Richard Conrad (who has sung and recorded with Joan Sutherland), Richard Byrne, Robert Honeysucker, Arthur Levy (who has taught Audra McDonald and Meryl Streep) and Dr Thomas Manhart. Leslie has also been in masterclasses with Angel Blue, Marni Nixon, Johanna Meier, Neil Shicoff, Juliana Gondek, Sir Andrew Parrott, Thomas Muraco, Thomas Grubb and taken consultation lessons with Mark Oswald, Lorraine Nawa Jones Marenzi, Donald George, David Jones and Stephen Smith.