James Lee III Premieres Violin Concerto No.2
On Saturday, Mar. 12, at 8 p.m.
James Lee
On Saturday, March 12, at 8 p.m., composer James Lee III returns to his alma mater to premiere Violin Concerto No.2 “Teshuah,” featuring Carla Trynchuk, violin, and the Andrews University Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Chris Wild. Teshua is a Hebrew word meaning “salvation” and “deliverance.”
James Lee III, an Adventist composer and music professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, is well known both in North America and internationally for his band, orchestral and choral compositions.
Lee was born in 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan. As a child, Lee had a passing interest in music; but, having been raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he was regularly exposed to it. His faith provided an early window into his creativity, so biblical teachings, especially from the books of Daniel and Revelation, are a major source of inspiration for his music.
At the age of 12, Lee began taking piano lessons at the Edith B. Garrett Adventist school in Benton Harbor, Michigan. This awakened an interest and talent that would become the driving force in his life. At 16, he started composing at Andrews Academy in Berrien Springs, where he twice won talent shows playing his original piano compositions. After graduating from academy, Lee continued his piano studies at Andrews University and then transferred to the University of Michigan.
Lee received an undergraduate degree in piano performance, and both his master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Michigan. In 2006, the year after earning his Doctor of Musical Arts, he premiered his three-movement work “Beyond Rivers of Visions” in Washington D.C., at the Kennedy Center.
His orchestral works have been commissioned and premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Omaha, Pasadena, Memphis, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Akron. Conductors include Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, David Lockington, Thomas Wilkins and more.
His recent works have been premiered and performed internationally in Brazil, Argentina, Russia and Cuba. In May 2019, Lee saw the premiere of his “Sinfonia de Esperanza” in Lima, Peru, as part of the University of the Peruvian Adventist Union’s centennial celebrations. In September, October and November of the 2019–20 season, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed Lee’s “Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula.”
For more information, visit www.jameslee3music.com.
Tickets for this event can be purchased at howard.andrews.edu and are $15 for general seating and $7 for students. There is a two-ticket limit if purchasing with a student ID.
