Actor's music is characterized by its dramatic impact, emotional expressivity, striking use of harmony and counterpoint, motivic development, and lyricism with a fresh, modern flavor.

Lee Actor (b. 1952, Denver, Colorado) trained for two careers, as a musician and as a software engineer. He was a violinist with the Albany Symphony Orchestra in New York while completing an advanced engineering degree at the nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. While working as a software engineer in the Boston area, he studied composition with Donald Sur. After moving to California in 1978, he took a master's degree in composition at San Jose State University and did further graduate study at the University of California in Berkeley. Following a return to software and a long and successful career in the videogame industry, in 2001 Actor devoted himself full time to composition and conducting, with very substantial results.

In California and as a scholarship student at the Aspen Music School, his composition teachers included Brent Heisinger, Charles Jones, and Andrew Imbrie. He has also studied conducting with Angelo Frascarelli, David Epstein, and Higo Harada. Actor was named Composer-in-Residence of the Palo Alto Philharmonic in 2002, following his appointment as Assistant Conductor in 2001.

Actor's music is filled with rhythmic drive and shows a superb ear for orchestral color. He often sets a rhythmic ostinato, such as steady 16th-notes, running through the texture of the piece, making other figures toe the mark in a dynamic situation fraught with challenge. And when that ostinato suddenly stops for a moment, or changes pace, the result can be a strong visceral reaction from the listener caught up in the energy of the passage. Often he builds up a work by emphasizing one or another of the instrumental families -- woodwinds, brass, and strings -- then mixes them in a rich impasto of orchestral color. In the process he creates music that catches the ear and draws the listener into a world of emotion and drama.

You can learn more about Lee Actor and his music on his website, http://www.leeactor.com.

-- Steven Ledbetter

Philharmonic Fun (2008)
Meditation for Violin and Orchestra (2008)
Concerto for Timpani and Band (2007)
Celebration Overture (2007)
Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (2007)
Symphony No. 2 (2006)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2005)
Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra (2005)
Prelude to a Tragedy (2003)
Symphony No. 1 (2002)
Redwood Fanfare (2002)
Variations and Fugue for Orchestra (2001)