LeRoy Villanueva began singing at age nine as a member of the California Boys’ Choir. As a choirboy, he appeared on television, recorded film soundtracks and albums, and toured throughout the United States and Canada. At seventeen, he was named assistant conductor of the choir and began teaching voice, music theory, and ear training.
After attending the University of Southern California, LeRoy focused on a professional singing career. He received first-place honors in the Los Angeles Artists of the Future, National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Opera Association, San Francisco Opera Schwabacher, and Metropolitan Opera National Council competitions. He was also awarded a Robert M. Jacobson Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and became the first recipient of the Lotus Foundation Award, which led to his debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
As an Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera Center, LeRoy appeared with San Francisco Opera and toured nationally with Western Opera Theater. His career subsequently took him to opera houses and concert stages throughout the United States, Western and Eastern Europe—including Moscow and Saint Petersburg—Asia, South America, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel. Selected appearances include the Paris Opera, Geneva Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Canadian Opera Company, New Israeli Opera, and opera companies in Montreal, Austin, Miami, and Detroit.
His repertoire has ranged from Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, and Monteverdi to contemporary works and world premieres. He has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. His recorded work includes the title role in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Sancho Panza in Fénelon’s Le Chevalier imaginaire, and the BBC film of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, directed by Francesca Zambello.
Alongside his performing career, LeRoy has taught classical voice, musical theater, contemporary commercial styles, lyric diction, acting, and musical interpretation. His college-level teaching experience includes Pasadena City College, Chapman University, and Pepperdine University, and he has served as an opera director at California State University, Long Beach and as a French diction coach for Opera UCLA. His long association with LA Opera Connects has included work as a teaching artist, performer, assistant director, guest speaker, and librettist.
LeRoy’s own vocal study has included work with Natalie Limonick, Giorgio Tozzi, Seth Riggs, and Dave Stroud, along with coaching from distinguished artists including Régine Crespin, Hans Hotter, Håkan Hagegård, Pierre Valet, Janine Reiss, and Rakefet Hak. That breadth of training and professional experience supports a teaching approach centered on healthy technique, expressive freedom, confidence, and the development of each singer’s individual voice.