César Leal, Ph.D

Welcome

Thank you for visiting my page.

Thanks for visiting my page. As a musicologist, orchestra conductor, and university professor, I am thrilled to share some of my professional experience with you. My work aligns the twin focuses of my career: creative performance and scholarly research.

I am both an active professional conductor and a researcher focusing on fin-de-siècle Paris, the aesthetics of listening and sonic embodiment, transatlantic studies, cultural transfer, and the intersections of race, class, and gender in music. As a professional conductor, my work includes guest conducting of ensembles ranging from student to professional and as director of a college ensemble. In my artistic and scholarly work, I continue to explore cultural interconnections between France, the Americas, and the Atlantic world with a deep interest in interrogations of race, gender, and ‘silent’ areas of music historiography.

Being involved in higher education for more than a decade has been a determinant factor for developing important skills as an administrator, leader, mentor, and program designer. In a market that increasingly, in addition to a solid technique, requires for emerging artists to be multi-skilled, self-entrepreneurs, and possess a solid scholarly background, I feel passionate about supporting and enhancing already established programs in higher education.

In a world where scholarly and creative work are often separated and almost never intersect, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have a professional career where I am able to show a new generation an alternative path to build and develop a healthy relationship with music.