BIOGRAPHY

Sylvia Leith, mezzo-soprano, is a soloist and consort singer. She has appeared as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony, Washington Bach Consort, Oregon Bach Festival, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, ACRONYM, Winston-Salem Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, American Classical Orchestra, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Cantata Collective, and Baroque Music Montana, among others. Known primarily for her performances of the high baroque works of Bach and Handel, she is equally at home singing repertoire of the Romantic era including Mahler, Elgar, and Brahms, as well as 20th-century and newly composed works. Solo engagements in the 2026–27 season include Handel’s Messiah at the Baltimore Basilica, Bach’s St. John Passion with Washington Bach Consort, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Ensemble Veritas and Upper Valley Baroque, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Lincoln Symphony, and Bach’s Cantata 35 for solo alto with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.

Equally dedicated to ensemble singing, Sylvia’s choral credits include Ensemble Altera, Skylark, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Seraphic Fire, True Concord, TENET, Lorelei, Bach Collegium San Diego, Ekmeles, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, the Crossing, and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street. In 2020 she co-founded the Polyphonists, a versatile vocal quartet, alongside her husband, bass-baritone Edmund Milly. 

Her operatic roles include Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and Nancy in Britten’s Albert Herring. 

Sylvia won first prize in the 2024 Bethlehem Bach Aria Competition, and was a 2024 Virginia Best Adams vocal fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival. She holds a bachelor’s degree in German from Yale and a master’s in Voice from Boston University.

See repertoire list at the link below.