About Lee Actor

Assistant Conductor and Composer-in-Residence of the Palo Alto Philharmonic

Composer/conductor Lee Actor joined the Palo Alto Philharmonic in 2001 as Assistant Conductor, and was named Composer-in-Residence the following year. The Palo Alto Philharmonic has premiered several of Lee's orchestral works, most recently his Dance Rhapsody in April 2010, commissioned by the orchestra. This work was recently named a semi-finalist for the 2011 American Prize in Orchestral Composition. In February 2009 the Palo Alto Philharmonic performed his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with soloist David Felberg, a work that David Hurwitz of ClassicsToday.com called "... a wonderfully tuneful, beautifully scored violin concerto that very easily could find its way into the modern repertoire."

Lee has led the Palo Alto Philharmonic in presenting a series of notably successful annual Family Concerts, including the Palo Alto Philharmonic's Concerto Movement Competition concerts in 2003, 2006, and 2009. He also conducted two regular subscription concerts during the 2003-04 season, and a number of works on other programs over the past ten seasons.

Formerly a violinist with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Lee has advanced degrees in both engineering and music composition. He has studied composition with Donald Sur, Brent Heisinger, Charles Jones and Andrew Imbrie, and conducting with Angelo Frascarelli, David Epstein and Higo Harada. Lee has won a number of awards for his compositions, most recently for Dance Rhapsody, 2nd place winner of the 2011 American Prize in Orchestral Composition, Redwood Fanfare, a winner of the 2009 Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra Fanfare Competition, and Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, the First Prize Winner in the 2007 International Horn Society Composition Contest. Variations and Fugue for Orchestra was a finalist in both the Columbia Orchestra's 2007 American Composer's Competition and the Holyoke Civic Symphony's 2005 Composition Competition, and Prelude to a Tragedy was selected as a finalist in the Columbia Orchestra's 2005 American Composer's Competition. The Palo Alto Philharmonic premiered these two latter works under the composer's direction.

Lee's orchestral music, which is characterized by its dramatic impact and emotional expressivity, has been performed by a number of orchestras in the U.S., and in Europe by the Slovak Radio Symphony and the Kiev Philharmonic. His first CD of orchestral works was released by MMC Recordings in June 2005, which Records International called "... one of the best new symphonic discs to have come our way." A second CD was released by Albany Records in April 2008, featuring Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and was nominated for 2008 "Best of the Year" classical CD by Classical 94.5/WNED in Buffalo, NY. His newest CD of orchestral music was released on the Navona Records label in April 2011, featuring Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra and Dance Rhapsody.

Lee is a member of the American Music Center and ASCAP. He has received awards and grants from ASCAP, the American Music Center, the International Horn Society, the Ridgewood Symphony, and The American Prize in Composition. Visit his website at www.leeactor.com for further information, including audio excerpts from his works.