In Wednesday’s (5/15) San Jose Mercury News (California), Richard Scheinin writes, “Like faces on Mount Rushmore, images of the great composers are daunting, burned into our collective memory. There they are—Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, geniuses with noble profiles, fiery eyes and hallowed reputations. What’s a man like Lee Actor supposed to do? He is a composer in the trenches, a South Bay professional whose works get performed from Saratoga to Slovakia. … ‘It’s hard,’ says Actor, whose new piano concerto debuts this weekend on the Peninsula. ‘It’s hard work. It’s harder than writing software.’ Actor, 60, knows, because he spent 20 years writing code for video games … Since around age 50, he has composed steadily, building a body of 20 major works: overtures, symphonies, concertos. More than 50 orchestras have performed them, including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony. … Happy with his success, even surprised by it, he says he has an inkling that his new piece may be his best yet. If you go to the Friday-Saturday performances by the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, expect to hear music that is expertly crafted and dramatic.”
Posted May 16, 2013
