Noël Lee (December 25, 1924 – July 15, 2013) was an American classical pianist and composer living in Paris , France . Born in 1924 in Nanjing , China , Lee studied music in Lafayette, Indiana , then attended Harvard University , studying with Walter Piston , Irving Fine , and Tillman Merritt and was also a student at the Longy School of Music in the early 1940s. Following World War II , he traveled to Paris where he studied music with Nadia Boulanger and was a friend of Douglas Allanbrook . He composed orchestral, chamber, piano, vocal, and film music. In addition, he completed several unfinished piano works by Franz Schubert , and composed cadenzas for piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven . He was also well known for his piano accompaniment. Lee served as visiting professor at Brandeis University , Cornell University , and Dartmouth College . He received numerous awards throughout his career, an Academy Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his creative work in 1959; and from France, twice laureate of the Fondation de France, in 1998, the grade of Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres , and, in 1999, from the city of Paris, the Grand Prix de la Musique .