Leslie has been a member of our Orchestra since 2000. He began playing tuba in the 1960s taught by Christian Surtees and Victor Brightmore, attending the East Ham (Newham) Music Academy, playing in its youth orchestra and many other groups including the staff orchestra. When deciding on a career in music or his other specialism, mathematics, for better or worse he chose the latter, getting a BSc in mathematics, then an engineering PhD in materials science, then working in industry as a theoretical analyst mostly of infrared and visual-band video cameras. He's now a self-employed mathematician/chartered physicist finding occasional work in optics and was lately an Open University associate lecturer in mathematics. However, through all this he continued prolific tuba-playing, being a founder member around 1970 of the quintet Renaissance Brass, still active until quite recently. He has played at some time for many local orchestras around London and southwest Essex (e.g. Brentwood, Havering, Newham, Woodford, Redbridge, Essex, Nelson, Southwark, Barclays, University of London, MAYC) and is currently also a member, covering 11 playing years, of the nationally-contesting Becontree Brass Band. He has played the solo part in Tubby the Tuba and the Vaughan Williams Tuba concerto with the BPO. His previous experiences performing this concerto with full orchestra were with the Newham Symphony Orchestra and then with the National Youth Wind Orchestra under the direction of Harry Legge OBE. |
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