Dana & James Lentini

The Lentini Duo is a husband and wife collaboration featuring guitarist and composer James Lentini and lyric soprano Dana Lentini. 

Award-winning composer and classical guitarist James Lentini is a recipient of the Andrés Segovia International Composition Prize, the Atwater-Kent Composition Award (first Prize), the McHugh Composition Prize, a grant from “Meet the Composer,” a Hanson Institute of American Music composer-performer grant, and multiple awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, and his compositions have been performed and recorded by international ensembles, including the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences GRAMMY awards, and his recordings appear on the Azica, Capstone, CRS, and Naxos recording labels. His suite for guitar entitled “The Four Seasons for Guitar” is published by Mel Bay, and is recorded on a disk that includes duo performances with his wife, soprano Dana Lentini. Gramophone Magazine has called James Lentini an “American classical music success story,” while calling his composition Scenes from Sedona “…perhaps the best piece for viola and cello since Beethoven’s ‘Eyeglasses’ Duet.” Dr. Lentini is the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan, USA), where he also holds the position of Professor in the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

Dana Lentini, lyric soprano, has performed a number of leading roles with with opera companies that include the Great Lakes Lyric Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Toledo Opera, Opera Theatre at Wildwood, and the Shreveport Opera. She has appeared as a featured soloist with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, Livonia Symphony, Dearborn Symphony, Oakland University Symphony, and with the Wayne State University Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra.  In addition, she regularly performs chamber music with her husband and guitarist, James Lentini. Her vocal studies include graduate work with Lorna Haywood at the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from The University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music. Dana received a Detroit Music Award in the category of “Best Classical Singer” from the Motor City Music Foundation for three consecutive years (2002-2004). Her recordings include appearances on Kerstin Allvin’s CD entitled “An Affair of the Harp” and on “The Four Seasons for Guitar” with James Lentini.  She has been a member of the voice faculty in the Preparatory Department of the College Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati and in the Department of Music at The College of New Jersey. Ms. Lentini is the founder of Born 2 Sing Kids, a voice program designed to meet the needs of children ages 8-13 in the development of good singing and performing techniques. She maintains an active private voice studio in Rochester Hills, Michigan, where she teaches a range of students from middle school to adults