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James Lent

Pianist and Keyboardist James Lent received the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Performance from Yale University, and is experienced in performing jazz, rhythm and blues, pop, broadway, classical, and dueling pianos or any of your other favorite selections for any occasion. He is currently on the staff at UCLA as a collaborative pianist for the music department. He frequently performs throughout Southern California, and recently in venues including LA Live, the Ritz Carlton Hotel, the Studio City Hilton Hotel, and Hollywood's Boulevard 3. On Friday nights he regularly performs at the oldest piano bar and caberet in Los Angeles which is located just off Sunset Blvd. at 2538 Hyperion Ave, 90027, where he has performed for over 8 years. James is available by himself and he can provide additional singers or instrumentalists in any combination including strings, drums, winds, and/or brass. He served for 8 years on the summer faculty at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA.

As a musical director he has directed and played for productions of Greece, Seussical, Willy Wonka, West Side Story, Sondheim Unscripted, for the LA Stage Star Competition and for numerous headlining shows at Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's in Studio City. As a pianist he has performed for productions of Cabaret, Chess, A Chorus Line, The Fantasticks, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Little Shop of Horrors, Oklahoma, The Boyfriend, Lady in the Dark, and Merrily We Roll Along.

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, the Washington International Piano Competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Olga Koussevitsky Piano Competition in New York, the Salon de Virtuosi Awards in New York, the Houston Symphony Ima Hogg National Young Artist Competition, and the title of Top Instrumentalist in the World Championships for the Performing Arts in Burbank, CA. Mr. Lent's other orchestral appearances include the Vancouver Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Torrence Symphony, Orchestra X, the Ocean City Pops, the Utah Symphony and the Florida West Coast Symphony. His solo recital appearances include performances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 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, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal.

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Interview

James Lent: The Man at the Piano

Read "James Lent: The Man at the Piano" reviewed by Gary Bennett


The Other Side has been a landmark of Hyperion Avenue, sandwiched between a gymnasium and an eatery or two in the Silverlake section of Los Angeles, for several decades. Ownership has changed once or twice; bartenders have come and gone. But faithful patronage of the restaurant-bar hasn't waned. Inside, the blood-red walls are accented by soft lighting, black leather stools and white shuttered windows. The focal point of the room is a black piano framed by mirrored ...

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Interview

Pianist James Lent Interviewed at All About Jazz

Pianist James Lent Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: John Kelman

He may not be well-known, but Los Angeles-based pianist, Dr. James Lent has been a mainstay at The Other Side, in the city's Silverlake area, for nearly a decade. He's also not particularly well-recorded, with only one album, 2000's self-produced Blue, to date. But Lent, like so many hard-working musicians for whom the playing's the thing, continues to hone his craft each and every week at the club, helps inspire others as an educator—and, living in LA, had the opportunity ...

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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Blue

Self Produced
2000

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