Schulich Jazz Area Forum: Steve Lehmann

This week, the forum welcomes:

STEVE LEHMANN, composer

A Waterloo, Ontario native, Steve Lehmann has been making music since the age of four. While visiting relatives as a young child, he imitated the music of the grandfather clock on the piano, which led his great aunt to recommend piano lessons.

Steve had his first piano lessons at age 4, guitar lessons at age 6, drum lessons at age 11, and then saxophone lessons in grade 10. Thanks to a dynamic piano teacher, composition was encouraged early on, which ultimately lead him to study composition at Wilfrid Laurier University.  He is founding director of Renaissance School of the Arts, and he co-directs and produces Show Choir Canada’s grand champion choir KW Glee.

Over the years, Steve has been involved with many facets of the music business. He is an active performer on both piano and electric bass, and has acted as producer / composer / arranger for many recording projects. Over 30 years of professional experience has put him in front of President Bill Clinton and on stage with the KW Symphony, and Juno-nominated bagpiper Rob Crabtree. Notably, Steve has worked with Olympic gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, CollegeHumor.com, the WWE,  and Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. His portfolio includes work as varied as Emmy and Addy winning commercials, video games, commercials, shorts and feature films, and he currently composes music for the Cyanide & Happiness animated shorts, and NBC’s The Cyanide & Happiness Show – online his music has exceeded 2.5 billion views.