Lee Alan Nolan – From Rags to Mystics 2 – Sunday, June 30 at 4 pm
From Rags to Mystics 2
Lee Alan Nolan, piano
Olivier Messiaen Catalogue d’oiseaux, livre 1
Bruce Christian Bennett Small Art
plus music by Ragtime composers Scott Joplin, May Aufderheide, and Irene Giblin
Lee Alan Nolan received his Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa. His principal professors were Peggy Salkind in San Francisco and Robert Helps in Tampa and San Francisco. While studying with his great mentor, composer/pianist Robert Helps, Mr. Nolan discovered his facility for learning and performing contemporary classical works, and like his mentor before him, gave acclaimed premiere performances of works by William Susman, David Del Tredici, Helps, and many others. In 1995 he recorded his debut CD Mendocino Suite by David Wurts, and it was released on Wild Iris Productions.
In 1999–2001 he toured Switzerland, Germany, and Italy as pianist for the Singing Waiters, an L.A.-based vocal group. It was near the end of 1999 on one such tour that Mr. Nolan found himself playing ragtime piano for the entertainment of legendary pop star Sting at the Dolder Grand Hotel.
Since relocating to Portland, Oregon in 2018, Nolan has been accompanist for the choirs at Portland Community College Rock Creek, and since 2019 also has been a professor for piano and theory classes there. He teaches piano, guitar, banjo, and vocal coaches privately and with Five Star Guitars; he was accompanist for the Oregon Chorale from 2018–2020; in 2019 he embarked on music tours as accompanist and singer with PCC Chamber Singers to Vancouver, B.C., and to Eastern Oregon with the Oregon Chorale. He is currently and has been organist and choir accompanist at Savage Memorial Presbyterian Church in SE Portland since 2018. Before his move from Ridgecrest, California, he was Music Director and Pianist for Cabaret in 2010, and gave many solo concerts in Ridgecrest invariably met with standing ovations. In 2022, Nolan gave his first performance at Old First Concerts in San Francisco, entitled From Rags to Mystics, which featured composers Scott Joplin, Scriabin, Melnyk, Vera Ivanova, Irene Giblin, and Bruce Bennett. Videos can be seen at YouTube (search Lee Alan Nolan) and CDs and DVDs are available for purchase at leealannolan.com .