Biography
Known for her unbridled joy and relentless swing, Singaporean jazz pianist Amanda Lee has been rapidly making her mark as a torchbearer of the swing and stride piano styles of 1930/40s classic jazz. Lee trained in Kansas City under master stride pianist Bram Wijnands and was awarded the New York Hot Jazz Camp Scholarship in 2020.
She has performed around the world including Ronnie Scott’s (London), Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Gotham Jazz Festival (NYC), Hällevik Tradjazz Festival (Sweden), Ubud Village Jazz Festival, Taipei, Singapore Night Festival, Esplanade Theatres by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands, amongst others. She is a member of the Traveling Janes, an international all-female early jazz band.
She leads her own group, the Amanda Lee Swingtet, known for their fun-loving camaraderie and playful dexterity, who are on a mission to spread the joy of jazz from its roots and beyond. They are a regular on the local jazz scene and have performed at international festivals like the Ubud Village Jazz Festival and the 1st International Jazz Festival Nha Trang.
Classically trained from a young age, Lee is privileged to have studied under the late Singaporean concert pianist Ong Lip Tat as well as the viola under Judy Tay. She has performed with Singaporean household names Dick Lee, Louis Soliano and Jeremy Monteiro, amongst others.
A passionate educator, Lee is the founder of A Tune A Week, a bold new jazz education initiative to make jazz accessible and enjoyable for all. She has been conducting weekly group jazz workshops since 2020.
As a holistic artiste, Lee performs and teaches various jazz dances with Jazz Inc and is no stranger to interdisciplinary collaborations with artistes across wide-ranging fields from Flamenco to Singapore literature and youth education.
Lee is a first-class honours graduate from the London School of Economics (LSE).