Verified Bookings

Lifetime

One of the most outstanding members of The Bash for 2022!

Best of 2022

One of the most outstanding members of The Bash for 2021!

Best of 2021

One of the most outstanding members on The Bash for 2020!

Best of 2020

One of the most outstanding members on The Bash for 2015!

Best of 2015

Los Angeles

California

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.

I could not be more satisfied with James. I give him my highest recommendation. The party was a huge success and he played a major part in that. I would not hesitate to hire him again for future events.

James is a confident professional pianist who is friendly and very easy to work with. I am a professional violinist worked in Venezuela, Washington DC, LA and Florida for over 40 years so I know the talent and character of many musicians. I am proud to say the I chose one of the best for our son's wedding!!!

Jazz (I've Got Rhythm by Gershwin)

Disney's Frozen "Let it Go"

Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

Happy Birthday Variations

Classical (Rachmaninioff Concerto No. 2 Finale)

Contemporary Classical: Libermann Sonata Finale for Flute and Piano, Gina Luciani Flute

Broadway: Some Enchanted Evening/Misty/At Last

Pop: If I Ain't Got You with singer

Hawaiian Cruise "Mr Sandman"

Lent - Pink Panther Variations

Wagner - Bridal Chorus from ' Lohengrin'

Mendelssohn - Wedding March from ' A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Debussy- Clair de Lune

Joplin - Maple Leaf Rag

Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue

Classical (Tchaikovsky Concerto Highlights)

Piano

Keyboards

Classical Piano

Jazz Piano

Pop Piano

LA LA Land Medley

Hamilton Medley

A Total Eclipse of the Heart

A Whole New World

Ain't Misbehavin

Air on the G String

All I Ask of You

All That Jazz

All in the Family

All of Me

All the Things You Are

Anthem

Anything Goes

As Time Goes By

At Last

Autumn Leaves

Be My Friend (The Facebook Song)

Be Our Guest

Beautiful

Beauty and the Beast

Begin the Beguine

Bennie and the Jets

Bewitched

Big Spender

Boogie Wonderland

Bridal Chorus

By the Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz

Cabaret

California Dreamin

California Girls

Can You Feel the Love Tonight

Can't Help Lovin that Man of Mine

Can't Take My Eyes Off You

Canon in D

Chariots of Fire

Cheers "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

Clair de Lune

Climb Every Mountain

Clocks

Concerto No. 1 in Bb Minor, Op. 23

Concerto No. 2 in C Minor

Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467

Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26

Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37

Concerto in A Minor

Copacabana

Crazy

Crocodile Rock

Cry Me A River

Dancing Queen

Daylight

Delovely

Do Re Mi

Don't Cry for me Argentina

Don't Get Around Much Anymore

Don't Stop Believing

Don't go Breaking my Heart

Ebony and Ivory

Evergreen

Flintstones

Fly Me To The Moon

For the Longest Time

Forget You

Funkytown

Fur Elise

Get Me To The Church On Time

Ghostbusters

Girl from Ipanema

Golden Girls

Good Vibrations

Grand Polonaise Brilliante, Op. 22

Greased Lightning

Great Balls of Fire

Gymnopedie No. 1

Hey Jude

Holiday

Hot Stuff

I Am 16 Going on 17

I Am a Catholic

I Could Have Danced All Night

I Feel Pretty

I Get A Kick Out of You

I Guess That's Why they Call it the Blues

I Heard It Through the Grapevine

I Just Called to Say I Love You

I Love A Piano

I Want to Hold Your Hand

I Will Always Love You

I Will Survive

I Write the Songs

I'll Be There

I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair

I've Got Rhythm

I've Got You Under My Skin

If I Ain't Got You

If I Only Had A Brain

Imagine

Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream

It Had to be You

Outstanding. Class act all the way. Highly recommend. The musician's musician. Thank you, James. 

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James Lent - Pianist and Entertainer Reviews

126 Reviews for James Lent - Pianist and Entertainer