From Kansas to Canada
Haley Leach is a violinist and teacher, originally from Topeka, Kansas, USA. She studied at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, with Dr. Scott Conklin, graduating in 2014 with degrees in violin performance and German. While at the University of Iowa, she also studied chamber music with the former violist of the Maia Quartet, Elizabeth Oakes, and spent three years as a violinist in the Athena Quartet. Haley graduated in 2016 with a Masters of Music from The Boston Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied with Sharan Leventhal.
Haley greatly enjoys playing musicals and operas, as well as orchestral repertoire. She has appeared with the Weston Friendly Society, Metro West Opera, NEMPAC, the Cape Symphony, Symphony New Hampshire, and the Cape Anne Symphony, as well as many high school theater productions in the Greater Boston area.
Since moving to Canada, Haley has appeared with the Kamloops Symphony in Kamloops, BC, and with the VISM White Rock Music School, in White Rock, BC. With these ensembles, she has traveled to Salmon Arm, BC and Oliver, BC.
Along with being an avid chamber musician, Haley is extremely interested in pedagogy. Having studied the Suzuki Method with renowned pedagogue Alice Joy Lewis, Haley completed teacher training through Suzuki Book 1 under the tutelage of Nancy Lokken in the summer of 2014.
Before moving to Vancouver, Canada, Haley taught private violin and viola lessons in Needham and Medfield, Massachusetts, as well as group viola lessons at the Saturday Morning Music School through Powers Music School in Belmont, Massachusetts. She was also the conductor of the Medfield High School Chamber Orchestra (pictured, right, with the graduating class of 2019). In spring 2019, the ensemble earned Silver at the 2019 MICCA Festival.
Haley currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband, Jason, and two cats, Happy and Simbad. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, embroidery, and baking. She speaks German and some French and is learning Romanian and Polish, just for fun. She acknowledges that she currently lives on the ancestral and unceded homelands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples.
For further information, please click here to view Haley’s CV.
