Albert Lee sings the national anthem, then reflects on what singing the anthem actually means to him. Lee likens the difficulty of singing the anthem to the challenges of true citizenship. According to Lee “true citizenship has a responsibility to hold the nation accountable to the spirit of its founding documents, event when it’s inconvenient, uncomfortable, or may go against personal belief or personal interest”

Originally from New Haven, CT, Albert R. Lee is Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of Nevada, Reno. With degrees from the University of Connecticut, The Juilliard School, and Florida State University, he has made a career as a classical vocalist in opera, oratorio, recital, and liturgical music. Dr. Lee is a featured soloist on a recently released recording of works by composer, George Walker on Albany Records singing musical settings of the Walt Whitman poem “When lilacs last in dooryard bloomed,” a poem written as an elegy to Abraham Lincoln after his assassination.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx