Meet the Minimalist Musician Who Welcomes a Snoozing Audience

Pianist R. Andrew Lee is a champion of the modern minimalist approach to classical music. This refreshingly simplistic style results in thought-provoking melodies and a constant stream of new pieces―sometimes performed in five hour long concerts, which audience members are more than welcome to sleep through.

“I think you really have to enter into this kind of music,” Lee told the Denver Post. “And if you’re entering into the piece to the extent that you’re so relaxed that you’re able to fall asleep, I think something right has happened.”

Lee’s journey as a minimalist advocate began when he discovered William Duckworth’s 1978 “The Time Curve Preludes,” which showed him the musical possibilities of refining a concept into a few simple chords and melodies.

The avant-garde musical style is accompanied by Lee’s extension of the traditional classical music circuit onto the internet. Lee interacts with composers and performers on his Twitter page and offers free concerts on Facebook live.

To learn more about Lee’s unique and fascinating work, you can read more at Denver Post’s blog here, or you can check out his work on The Irritable Hedgehog.