Lea Ray has been studying orchestral conducting at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar since 2021 in the class of Prof. Ekhart Wycik, Prof. Nicolás Pasquet, Johannes Klumpp and Prof. Gregor Bühl. She received further inspiration from Prof. Johannes Schlaefli, Prof. Daniele Agiman, Prof. Ole Kristian Ruud, Prof. Christoph-Mathias Müller, Otto Tausk and Prof. Richard Wien. In the 2024/25 season, she made her debut at the Landestheater Coburg with Rossini's “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”. She has also conducted concerts for children with the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra. At Staatstheater Mainz, she is assisting GMD Hermann Bäumer in the new production of Janáček's “The Cunning Little Vixen” and will take on a post-conducting role in the 2025/26 season. Since February 2024, she has been a scholarship holder of the “Forum Dirigieren” of the German Music Council.
In the 2023/24 season, she assisted Dominik Beykirch with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Weimar as well as Tobias Engeli with the State Youth Orchestra of Saxony. In spring 2024, Lea Ray assisted at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (production of “La Cenerentola”, conducted by Andreas Wolf) and at Theater Chemnitz (production of “Sleepless”, conducted by Friedrich Praetorius). She also conducted the Academic Orchestra of the TU Ilmenau in the winter semester 2023/24.
In the 2022/23 season, Lea Ray was a conducting fellow at the Bergische Symphoniker Orchestra Academy, where she conducted the school concerts and the season finale concerts. In fall 2023, she conducted school concerts of the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2022, she assisted the Young Central German Chamber Opera in the production of “Così fan tutte” under the direction of Friedrich Praetorius and conducted a project ensemble of the Early Music Network.
Lea Ray has already gained further valuable conducting experience in rehearsals and concerts with the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bodenseephilharmonie Konstanz, the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha and the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim.