Margaret (a.k.a. Peigi) Leach has learned how to disguise her original accent, aboriginal of southern Maryland, by means of having lived in the South since 1978. Had it not been for her love and pursuit of vocal music, this might not have been the case. Choral ensembles and dramatic productions became as mother’s milk to her. Community theater musicals and a few stints at professional dinner theater in the Washington, D.C. area were followed by continued efforts upon her relocation to New Orleans, LA. Again, the siren calls to Community Theater and professional dinner theater were heard and answered.
A chance reading of an audition notice for a new singing group, the New Orleans Symphony Chorus, changed her life. In a flurry of rehearsals, concerts and libations that followed each said event, she found herself auditioning for a scholarship in voice performance from Loyola University of the South. Three years later, her husband was summoned to Huntsville, Al for the purpose of advancing his career path. She dutifully followed him, and resumed her foray into the academic fray, and snatched up her B.A. from the University of Alabama, Huntsville. They couldn’t get rid of her, though. She then returned to UAH for more than 10 years to pass on the lessons of vocal technique and voice repertoire to bright, new students of the vocal arts.
Huntsville has also offered opportunities too many to number here. Huntsville Community Chorus, Huntsville Opera Theater, Huntsville Master Chorale, St. Thomas Episcopal Church Choir, Schola Cantorum, and In Nocte Carmina are among the groups in which she has been numbered. NAVE is but the jewel in the diadem of her musical experiences, and she looks forward to a long association.
—Cindy Davis, Biographer
