Nol Lee

No?l Lee is an American classical pianist and composer living in Paris, France.

He studied music in Lafayette, Indiana, then attended Harvard University, studying with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, and Tillman Merritt. Following World War II, he traveled to Paris where he studied music with Nadia Boulanger and was a friend of Douglas Allanbrook. He has composed orchestral, chamber, piano, vocal, and film music. In addition, he has completed several unfinished piano works by Franz Schubert, and composed cadenzas for piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

As a pianist, he has has toured on six continents and recorded 198 LPs and CDs since 1955, particularly of Schubert , Debussy, Ravel, Charles Ives, Bartok, Stravinsky, Aaron Copland and Elliott Carter. Thirteen of these have received a Grand Prix du Disque.

Lee has served visiting professor at Brandeis University, Cornell University, and Dartmouth College.

He received numerous awards throughout his career, including from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his creative work; and from France, in 1998, the grade of Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, and, in 1999, from the city of Paris, the Grand Prix de la Musique.