Owen Lee was already a rock star when he accepted his new position as official keyboardist for Cincinnati stoner/psych quartet Electric Citizen, their first actual membership addition in the band’s history. Oddly enough, Lee’s stardom was not within the rock realm.
Since 1996, Lee has been the principal bassist for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO); his CSO bio notes that his favorite composers are Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner and Brahms, and his current playlist includes Grand Funk Railroad, Hawkwind and Motorhead. Talk about two sides of a coin.
Born and raised in Santa Monica, California, Lee’s early rock influences stemmed from the rich punk and metal scene that permeated the Golden State in the ’80s. Somehow, he dodged the siren’s call to perform that music, preferring to maintain his strictly fan status and choosing instead to focus on his equally powerful interest in classical music, which resulted in his bachelor’s degree in double bass performance from the University of Southern California. Lee also minored in Russian literature. Is there such a thing as a three-sided coin?
After graduation, Lee headed to Texas for a position with the prestigious Houston Symphony. While he was content in Houston, he kept his ear to the ground for other opportunities around the country.
“Since I was in my early twenties when I got into the Houston Symphony, I still checked the American Federation of Musicians’ monthly newsletter to see if there were any possible better jobs,” says Lee. “I knew I had to keep taking auditions when I was still young and single because auditions get harder when family and other life responsibilities start coming into the picture. So in 1995 when the CSO announced their principal bass vacancy, I sent in my resume. Orchestra auditions are extremely competitive, especially for top orchestras like Cincinnati and Houston and particularly for a principal position. When I auditioned for the CSO I was competing against over one hundred other candidates who applied for the one open spot.”
Despite long odds, Lee’s talent, passion and determination won the day; next year, he’ll celebrate his 30th anniversary with the CSO.
“It’s a dream job!” says Lee. “I’ve been here 29 years and I still wonder why I was handed the winning lottery ticket because there are so many great bass players out there.”
Across those three decades, Lee has naturally accumulated a memory attic of treasured remembrances.
“Playing Strauss’ Alpine Symphony, conducted by our then Music Director Louis Langrée, is one concert that really sticks out in my mind out of hundreds of wonderful concerts I’ve played with the CSO,” Lee notes. “The many tours we’ve taken to Europe, Asia and Carnegie Hall also stand out. I’ve also been the featured soloist on a number of programs so I’m grateful for those experiences.”
Another prominent bullet point on Lee’s musical resume is his position as adjunct associate professor at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Is Lee’s coin actually a cube?
“That is one of the great joys in my musical life, along with the CSO and Electric Citizen,” says Lee with no small amount of pride. “Three of my former CCM students are now members of the CSO, including the orchestra’s associate principal and assistant principal bassists. Other former students of mine are in orchestras across the USA, Asia, and one in Norway.”
The interesting facet to Lee’s dual membership with the CSO and now Electric Citizen is his perspective on the very different roles he performs in both entities and how he sees the commonalities rather than the disparities between the two. This is evident when he talks about conversations he’s had with Electric Citizen guitarist/songwriter/braintrust Ross Dolan.
“As a classical musician, the work ethic of all my Electric Citizen friends is incredibly impressive,” says Lee. “It reminds me of the wonderful classical musicians I’ve made a living playing with. We have this stereotype of a hard working person living this monastic life, but I see that same work ethic even though we’re coming from very different genres.
“I don’t know how much Ross is joking about this, but he’ll say, ‘I’m a nothing musician, you have all this training, you’ve made it in one of the top orchestras.’ And I always say, ‘Just because you’re a chef trained at the Cordon Bleu doesn’t necessarily make you a great cook.’ A lot of people know how to cook and never went to the Cordon Bleu or the Culinary Institute of America. When you create something, whether it’s a meal or visual art or music, you’re using your taste and judgment. Ross and I have a lot of very philosophical conversations, and I think he says these things tongue-in-cheek, and I say, ‘Whether you’re trained or not, you have taste and judgment and the discipline, the work ethic and the standards.'”
At the same time, the irony of Lee’s double musical life is not lost on him. The reverence he displays for the great composers of history and the amazing musicians who interpret their compositions hundreds of years later is exactly the same reverence he feels for the numerous metal bands he idolizes, like the band who has hired him as their permanent keyboardist after nearly six years of being a utility player on an as-needed basis.
“I never thought I’d be a musician in the stoner/psychedelic rock scene, especially in one of that genre’s respected bands like Electric Citizen,” he says with genuine humility. “I would have been happy to just continue going to their shows, drinking beer and having a good time but somehow I ended up friends with them and, after that, somehow winding up as their keyboard player. Life takes interesting turns.”
That may be the understatement of the century. From the other end of the telescope, Electric Citizen lead vocalist Laura Dolan has a unique take on Lee’s orbit in the band’s universe.
“We were playing local shows around 2014, and Owen was coming to our shows and we were like, ‘Who is this guy?'” she recalls. “He was this really interesting guy who knew a lot about music, and we became friends. Suddenly we find out he’s the principal bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony, and we’re like, ‘What are you doing, coming to our shady rock shows? We’re not worthy!’ But he was raised in California in the prime of rock, so he was a metalhead before he was a classical musician, and he was our friend before he joined the band. We’ll have him as long as he’s willing. And we, as fans, get to go to the CSO all the time and fanboy him throughout. Sometimes he’ll throw us the metal hand from the stage.”
To learn more about Lee, visit cincinnatisymphony.org.
This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 5, 2025.