"... a composer of remarkable skill ..."

"... music of the highest quality in craftsmanship, inventiveness and imagination"

"... a composer with a consistent voice and a sure-fire dramatic sense"

"... an incredible orchestral tour de force ..."

"... a composer who thinks in big, bold gestures and heroic emotions"

"... a major work deserving of national attention ... this concerto verges on masterpiece"

"... a wonderfully tuneful, beautifully scored violin concerto that very easily could find its way into the modern repertoire"

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Featured Audio Clip

Excerpt from Concerto for Violin and Orchestra 

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News & Upcoming Performances

The Missouri Symphony Orchestra will perform Celebration Overture on June 7, 2008 at the gala celebration opening of the newly restored Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts in Columbia, Missouri, conducted by Kirk Trevor.

The Palo Alto Philharmonic will perform the encore performance of Celebration Overture, written in honor of their 20th season anniversary, on May 18, 2008 at the Cubberley Theater in Palo Alto, California, conducted by the composer.

Albany Records released the album Lee Actor: Violin Concerto in April 2008. The CD contains Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, with violin soloist Pip Clarke, Symphony No. 2, and Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, with timpani soloist Stuart Chafetz. Kirk Trevor conducts the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in all three works.

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Concerto for Horn and Orchestra was selected as First Prize Winner in the 2007 International Horn Society Composition Contest. The IHS, which worldwide has more than 3500 members from 55 countries, received a record number of entries from 16 different nations. An article on the winning compositions will appear in an upcoming issue of The Horn Call, the official journal of the International Horn Society.

Jason Klein led the Saratoga Symphony in a spirited performance of Symphony No. 2 on January 20, 2008 at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Saratoga, California.

The Palo Alto Philharmonic performed the world premiere of Celebration Overture, written in honor of their 20th season anniversary, on October 20, 2007 at the Spangenberg Theater in Palo Alto, California, conducted by Thomas Shoebotham.

On September 15, 2007, ASCAP® named Lee Actor the recipient of an ASCAPlus Award for 2007-2008.  The purpose of the ASCAPlus awards is to reward composers whose works have a unique prestige value for which adequate compensation would not otherwise be received, and to compensate those writers whose works are performed substantially in media not surveyed by ASCAP. This is the fifth consecutive year that Actor has been honored with this award.

Variations and Fugue for Orchestra was selected as a finalist in the 2007 American Composer Competition of the Columbia Orchestra.

Hornist Christophe Gillet performed the world premiere of Concerto for Horn and Orchestra with the Silicon Valley Symphony, which commissioned the work, on May 19, 2007 at the Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos in Los Gatos, California, Michael Paul Gibson conducting.  Maestro Gibson and the SVS also performed Prelude to a Tragedy on the same program.

The Peninsula Symphony performed Variations and Fugue for Orchestra on subscription concerts on May 18, 2007 at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, California, and on May 19, 2007 at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California, conducted by Geoffrey Gallegos.

The Palo Alto Philharmonic performed the world premiere of Symphony No. 2 on February 24, 2007 at the Cubberley Theater in Palo Alto, California, conducted by the composer.

Pip Clarke, an internationally renowned violinist, performed the world premiere of Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with the Mission Chamber Orchestra on April 22, 2006 at Le Petit Trianon Theatre in San Jose, California, conducted by Emily Ray. The premiere received a rave review in the San Mateo County Times. The MCO commissioned the concerto in honor of their 10th season anniversary.

On March 15, 2006, the American Music Center awarded Lee Actor a grant through their Composer Assistance Program for the premiere of Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.

Jason Klein conducted the Y.O.S.A.C. Symphony Orchestra (senior orchestra of the Youth Orchestras of Southern Alameda County) in a performance of Variations and Fugue for Orchestra on March 12, 2006, at the CSU East Bay University Theater in Hayward, California.

Stuart Chafetz, principal timpanist of the Honolulu Symphony, performed the world premiere of Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra with the Palo Alto Philharmonic on February 18, 2006 at the Cubberley Theater in Palo Alto, California, conducted by Ann Krinitsky.

Andrew Levin conducted the Clemson University Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Prelude to a Tragedy on November 29, 2005, in Clemson, South Carolina.

Kirk Trevor conducted the Ball State Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Prelude to a Tragedy on October 2, 2005 at the Sursa Performance Hall on the campus of Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Variations and Fugue for Orchestra was selected as a finalist in the 2005 Composition Competition of the Holyoke Civic Symphony.

MMC Recordings released the album Lee Actor - Music for Orchestra in June 2005. The CD features performances by Kirk Trevor and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.

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Prelude to a Tragedy was selected as a finalist in the Columbia Orchestra's 2005 American Composer Competition.

Volume Five of the Masterworks of the New Era CD series, including Robert Ian Winstin's recording of Prelude to a Tragedy with the Kiev Philharmonic, was released by ERM Media in March 2005.

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