Leslie Hart is a versatile freelance horn player and passionate music educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a deep commitment to music at all levels, she currently serves as the Music Specialist at Bing Nursery School at Stanford University (since 2023) and co-founded Noise Lab Creative Music Community, where she acts as the Director.

Leslie’s earned a dual Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Music Education from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in 2011. Her scholarly work includes writing on cadenza improvisation for Horn Call (May 2010, May 2013), as well as her dissertation, Improvisation in the Collegiate Horn Studio, which explores how college horn majors can learn to improvise within orchestral horn excerpts (University of Rochester, 2011). Her current research at Stanford explores documentation in early childhood music as a means to improve music teaching and learning and has 200 enrolled participants.

A seasoned clinician and educator, Leslie has shared her expertise on the international stage in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and the U.S. She has been a featured speaker at major events, including the 2009 and 2011 International Horn Symposiums, Mid-South Horn Workshops, Northeast Horn Workshops, and Northwest Horn Symposiums. In addition, she has taught at institutions such as Santa Clara University, Nazareth University (Rochester, NY), and Mahidol University (Thailand).

Beyond her extensive teaching and writing, Leslie is an avid chamber musician and a proud member of the Emerald Brass Quintet. Her passion for performing and teaching has taken her around the world, where she has nurtured both her craft and her love for guiding the next generation of musicians. Working with young learners is where Leslie finds the most joy—it's her greatest passion to inspire and share the magic of music.