Photo: Olivia Nikkanen
With performances described as “breathtaking” (Onstage), and “eloquent” (Wholenote) violinist and interdisciplinary artist Leslie Ting has been creating groundbreaking music-driven multimedia performances since 2014 with her definitive work, Speculation. Garnering multiple award nominations, Leslie’s work combines her specialized background as a classical musician with creative work in theatre, new media, and experience stemming from her former career as a practicing optometrist.
Her most recent production, What Brings You In, is a hybrid online/in-person performance. Described in Best of Contemporary Music on BandCamp March 2024 as “moving” and “vibrant”, the music for this live hybrid performance has been released as a double album on People Places Records.
Collaborations have included Diane Borsato’s Your Temper, My Weather at the National Arts Centre SPHERE Festival (Ottawa), performing in the inaugural season of improvisation web-series, Understory, contributing to experimental publication Caddisfly Project (NYC) and creating a video étude for Race Cards (in Two Acts), a co-production by Prime Mover Theatre Company and Selina Thompson LTD (UK).
Influenced by witnessing her own mother’s vision loss, her practice often centres on the tension between listening and seeing while engaging with creative accessibility with Blind and Low Vision artists and audiences. With the support of Canada Council for the Arts, she is currently developing a process to facilitate meaningful, relational engagement with creative accessibility with Macy Siu, Dr. Jessica Watkin, and Theatre Passe Muraille.