James Lent - Pianist and EntertainerPianist from Los Angeles, CA

Pianist and Keyboardist James Lent is experienced in performing in all genres for weddings, concerts, events, and in groups including pop, classical, jazz, and Broadway. Any requests can be accommodated. James is currently on the faculty of UCLA as the head of collaborative piano and vocal coach for the music department, and as coordinator of staff pianists, vocal coach, and musical director at AMDA, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Hollywood. He frequently performs throughout Southern California, and recently in venues including the Beverly Hills Hilton, House of Blues, LA Live, and the Ritz Carlton Hotel. James is available by solo or he can provide additional performers including strings, drums, winds, and/or brass. He has also served on the summer faculty at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA as pianist and opera coach for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and the Napa Music Festival. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Yale School of Music in Piano Performance. As a musical director he has directed and played for productions of Spamilton, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweet Charity, Willy Wonka, West Side Story, Seussical, Amda's Toonsical, Rent, and for the LA Stage Star Competition. As a pianist he has also performed in productions of Cabaret, Chicago, Chess, A Chorus Line, The Fantasticks, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Oklahoma. As a concerto soloist, Mr. Lent made his Alabama Symphony debut performing Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 to critical acclaim on 24 hours' notice to replace Andre Watts. James' numerous piano awards include prizes in the New York Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the National Chopin Competition, and the Washington International Piano Competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Mr. Lent's other orchestral appearances include the Vancouver Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Torrence Symphony, the Utah Symphony and the Florida West Coast Symphony. His solo recital appearances include performances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Lubeck, Germany; for the National Chopin Foundation in Miami, a Boston recital debut at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he gave the world premiere of a new work written for him by noted contemporary American composer Frederic Rzewski. His performances have been heard on New York's WQXR and National Public Radio's Performance Today. Mr. Lent was invited to participate in the Pierre Boulez Workshop for Instrumentalists and Conductors at Carnegie Hall where he performed with the renowned Ensemble Intercontemporain under the direction of Maestro Boulez in a sold-out concert at Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Lent was a fellowship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Dr. Lent is a native of Houston where he attended the Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the University of Houston. Since completing his Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale, Dr. Lent has been based in Los Angeles.