Melinda Lee Masur

Lauded for her “impeccable technique and artistic interpretation” (The Columbian), pianist Melinda Lee Masur has performed on all three stages of Carnegie Hall, at London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, the Berliner Philharmonie, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, at the Ravinia Festival, Festival Les Muséiques Basel and in Boston’s Symphony Hall. She has given recitals in cities from Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Toronto and New York, to London, Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris, Kiev and Leipzig. Masur has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Harvard Bach Society Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Shenzhen Symphony and Macao Youth Symphony. 

An avid chamber musician, Masur has performed with such artists as Augustin Hadelich, Alban Gerhardt, Fanny Clamagirand, Adrian Brendel, Thomas Quasthoff, as well as the Verona, Ivalas, and Balourdet Quartets. She is pianist and founding member of The Lee Trio, praised worldwide for its “gripping immediacy and freshness” and "rich palette of tone colours" (The Strad). The Trio has given world, American and European premieres of piano trios by composers including Edmund Finnis, Uljas Pulkkis, Nathaniel Stookey, Philip Lasser, Jane Antonia Cornish, Nicky Sohn, & Sylvie Bodorova and garnered awards such as the Recording Prize at the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland and the Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung grant in Berlin. The Trio has recorded for the Delos and innova labels and their most recent album release, Midsummer Night Magic, was met with critical and audience acclaim. 

Together with her husband, Ken-David Masur, she serves as Artistic Director of the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual summer music festival in New York City praised by The New York Times as a “gem of a series” and frequently featured amongst its Best Classical picks of the season. The Festival is known for its thematic programming of works ranging from baroque to contemporary to jazz, and combining the performing, visual, and culinary arts. 

A graduate of Harvard University and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, Germany, Masur is passionate about educating the next generation of musicians. Masur has served on the faculty at the University of Chicago and Boston University, and given masterclasses at colleges & universities such as the Lewis & Clark College, University of Utah's School of Music, Gordon College, Biola University, Wheaton College, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's School of Music, and the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy in Romania. Masur is the Director of Piano Chamber Music and Co-Director of the Young Artists Piano Program at the BU Tanglewood Institute and joined the piano and chamber music faculty at Stanford in the Fall of 2025. 

Melinda Lee Masur is a Steinway Artist.

(Photo by Fadi Kheir)