Originally from New Haven, CT, Albert R. Lee is Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of Nevada, Reno. With degrees from the University of Connecticut, The Juilliard School, and Florida State University, he has made a career as a classical vocalist in opera, oratorio, recital, and liturgical music. Dr. Lee is a featured soloist on a recording of works by composer, George Walker on Albany Records singing musical settings of the Walt Whitman poem “When lilacs last in dooryard bloomed,” a poem written as an elegy to Abraham Lincoln after his assassination. Since joining the faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno, he has been a sought after guest lecturer for courses in the English Department and the School of the Arts, as well as for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, for the Black Cultural Cooperative and most recently at UNR’s TEDx event. He has given the faculty keynote address for the university’s cultural graduation celebrations and most recently at the university’s 2016-2017 opening ceremony. Dr. Lee draws inspiration from the literary works of Langston Hughes as well as his unique artistic, spiritual, and personal journey from childhood to his current life as an international performer and college professor.
Mr. Lee recently sang the national anthem at a University of Nevada TEDx event and then reflected on what singing the anthem actually means to him. He likened the difficulty of singing the anthem to the challenges of true citizenship, noting that “true citizenship has a responsibility to hold the nation accountable to the spirit of its founding documents, event when it’s inconvenient, uncomfortable, or may go against personal belief or personal interest”.