Rebecca J Carda Leigh, piano

About the Artist

Meet Concert & Cake Founder & Artistic Director

Rebecca J Carda Leigh, concert pianist, studied at the most prestigious music schools in the United States, the Eastman School of Music (BA in piano performance,) the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music with such faculty as Nina Svetlanova, Rebecca Penneys, German Diez, Jackson Berkey, Madame Rosalyn Tureck and Dr. Ana Maria Trenchi de Bottazzi. She has played at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, Steinway Hall, The John F. Kennedy Library Boston, The Cardinals Villa Chicago, The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series Chicago, Caramoor, Kilbourn Hall, Howard Hanson Hall, Lena Hall Chautauqua, the Chautauqua Amphitheater, St. Augustine’s Church Bexhill-on-Sea England, Royal Kensington Central Library, and Witherspoon Concert Hall. 

Her prizes and honors include: The Forsythe Memorial Award, the Gertrude Vayo, the Eleanor Daugherty, the George Eastman Scholarship, and the Chautauqua Summer Music Festival.  Her patrons have included Mrs. Howard Hanson (wife of the late composer/conductor Dr. Howard Hanson). She has been an appointed teacher for the American Music Scholarship Association, the Germaine Pinault School of Music, and is a member of the Leschetitzky Association. She adjudicated such competitions as the Leschetitzky Gifted Young People’s Concert and the World Piano Competition as a regional judge. 

She has been accompanist for choirs and orchestras in many of the Greenwich Public Schools. She holds the American Protégé International Competition 2013/2023 Diploma for extraordinary dedication and achievement in the field of teaching music and presenting students to perform. Through her private teaching studio, her students perform at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, and Steinway Hall. They show talent and dedication, winning such awards as the Steinway Junior Piano Competition, American Protégé International Piano Competition, The World Piano Competition, The Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition, The Leschetitzky Association Gifted Young People's Concerts competition, and the American Chamber Orchestra competition. 

She is the 2022 Steinway Top Teacher Award recipient for dedication to music education, artistry, quality, and exquisite musical expression.  She is the founder and artistic director of The First Friday Concert Series Greenwich, Concert & Cake Greenwich, Concert & Cake London, Concert & Cake July Summer Series, Concert & Cake Asia, and Concert & Cake NYC. She performs throughout the USA, UK, and Asia