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Lee Musiker
LEE MUSIKER, conductor
Lee Musiker — pianist, conductor, music director, arranger, and orchestrator — brings a wealth of experience to the podium through his association with premiere artists in jazz, classical, Broadway, and pop genres. A Steinway artist, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, New York Pops, Boston Pops, Hollywood Bowl, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
As a solo pianist with the Lee Musiker Trio, he has performed in the United States and Europe. He has been a guest conductor with numerous symphony orchestras, including those of Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Denver, Honolulu, and Houston. He has also conducted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon as well as the Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Lincoln Center Jazz orchestras.
A native New Yorker and fourth generation musician, Mr. Musiker received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music, and had further studies at The Juilliard School. After a two-year tour as pianist with the Buddy Rich Band, he returned to New York and began playing in the orchestra pits of many hit Broadway shows.
For the past 25 years Lee Musiker has enjoyed a rich and diverse musical life collaborating with artists including vocalists Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Barbara Cook, Maureen McGovern, Audra McDonald, Kristin Chenoweth, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Joel Grey, Rita Moreno, Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Kathleen Battle, Denyce Graves, Nathan Gunn, Sylvia McNair, Julia Migenes, Ann Hampton Calloway, Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, k.d lang, Michael Buble, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Norah Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Chaka Khan, and Jewel (for which he received a Platinum album), and instrumentalists Buddy Rich, Doc Severinson, Wynton Marsalis, Chris Botti, John Pizzarelli, Bob Brookmeyer, Bob Mintzer, and Joshua Bell.
As an arranger and orchestrator, Mr. Musiker has written for symphonic pops, recordings, movies, and television (for which he received an Emmy Award). As an educator, he has been on the faculties of The Mannes College of Music, New School, and New York University (as part of the Distinguished Piano Faculty Master Class series). Since 2001 he has been touring with Tony Bennett; and he was the music director and pianist for the multiple Grammy and Emmy Award-winning album and television special Tony Bennett: Duets — An American Classic. He made his New York Philharmonic debut with Barbara Cook in November 2007.
