Albert Lee
Before the technical study of the instrument and beyond the theoretical and cultural understanding of the notes and words in their historical frame, there is the individual and developing human being discovering both the music and themselves in the here and now. My teaching philosophy centers on creating a context where all students are free to make these discoveries simultaneously and are provided support in doing so.
Albert Lee
A native of New Haven, Dr. Albert Lee was previously on the faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he was associate professor of voice and opera and served as faculty adviser to the Black Student Organization and the Phi Beta chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. At the University of Nevada, Reno, he was also chair of the Faculty Diversity Committee and a member of the Academic Honesty and Conduct Review Board and the Chief Diversity Officer Advisory Board.
Lee has delivered lectures on American Art Song: Reframing and Reforming the Canon and The Musical Legacy of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance at prestigious institutions throughout the United States, and, at the University of Nevada, Reno, in 2017, gave a compelling TEDx presentation titled When I Sing the Anthem. His essay “All You Have Gotten is Tokenism” was published in Prejudice, Stigma, Privilege, and Oppression: A Behavioral Health Handbook (Springer International Publishing, 2020).
A classically trained vocalist, Lee has performed with such celebrated ensembles as the Cincinnati Opera, Opera Las Vegas, Opera Steamboat, Palm Beach Opera, and Philadelphia Orchestra. He appears as a soloist on Sinfonia da Camera’s 2013 recording, on Albany Records, of George Walker’s Lilacs, for voice and orchestra, which won the composer the 1996 Pulitzer Prize, and has recorded with the American Spiritual Ensemble and the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh.
At the Yale School of Music, Lee teaches in the academic-studies area and serves as Associate Dean for Student Life and Community Engagement —contributing to the development of the curriculum, creating initiatives for students, faculty, and staff, and overseeing student participation on University committees and in affinity groups and student government.
Lee earned his bachelor-of-music degree cum laude from the University of Connecticut, his master-of-music degree from The Juilliard School, and his doctor-of-music degree from Florida State University, where his doctoral treatise examined The Poetic Voice of Langston Hughes in American Art Song.
