ABOUT

Lee Harrelson is a Professor of Music at Missouri Western State University. At Missouri Western, he serves as the Director of Instrumental Studies and Bands and conducts the Missouri Western Symphonic Winds. For the 2022-2023 academic year, Dr. Harrelson is a Visiting Professor of Euphonium & Tuba at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. Dr. Harrelson attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he studied music education and performance before completing his masters and doctorate at the UMKC Conservatory.

Dr. Harrelson is the founder of the Fountain City Brass Band and currently serves as its artistic director, executive director, and principal euphoniumist. The Fountain City Brass Band (FCBB) is one of America’s premiere brass and percussion ensembles and has been featured throughout the U.S. and Europe in concerts and competitions. The FCBB is currently the top-ranked brass band in the United States. Under Dr. Harrelson’s artistic leadership, the band has won nine North American Brass Band Association Championships, nine U.S. Open Brass Band Championships, and one Scottish Open Brass Band Championship since it began competing in 2004. At the 2011 All England International Brass Band Competition, as a member of the FCBB, Lee was named Best Instrumentalist, a first for an American at an English brass band competition. During his tenure, the FCBB has produced four commercial recordings, performed with countless world-class soloists, and developed a youth brass program, the Fountain City Youth Brass Academy, that serves over 120 students annually.

Dedicated to furthering the development of brass bands in America, Dr. Harrelson regularly serves on the faculty of the North American Brass Band Summer School and, in 2019, along with his wife Helen, founded the National Youth Brass Band of America. In 2022 Dr. Harrelson founded the US Masters Brass Band Entertainment Championships. The inaugural competition will take place in Kansas City this November.

In the fall of 2019, Dr. Harrelson was awarded the first ever Visiting International Professor position with the world-famous Brighouse & Rastrick Band (England). In addition to collaborating with and conducting the band, Dr. Harrelson was able to work closely with Professor David King during preparations for the band’s appearances at the British Open Brass Band Championships (Symphony Hall, Birmingham) and the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain (Royal Albert Hall, London).

Dr. Harrelson can be heard on numerous commercially released recordings and has appeared throughout North America and Europe as a clinician, soloist, and chamber musician.