BIOGRAPHY
“... stormed the heavens with sweeping melodic gestures, romantic yearning" - The Washington Post
"... put an emphasis on shimmering, shivering effects" - The New York Times
"The Lee piece is one that deserves many more performances... It’s a perfect example of how lyrical and richly textured a modern work can be..." - Strings Magazine
“... stunning coloristic effects” - San Francisco Classical Voice
“... scintillating piece, full of sound and fury from its first drum roll” - Times Herald-Record
"... pounding rhythms, bold colors and dissonant effects" - Courier-Post
"... Lee obviously has an imaginative streak when it comes to combining the emanations from various percussions. The music showed inventiveness and knowledge of the instruments” - The Herald-Times
"... showstopper... A towering, often ferocious work that arranged modern tonalities in familiar High Romantic architecture... Lee is keeping an old flame very, very much alive while fueling it with something that could only have been invented in this century" - Lucid Culture
One of the “25 Contemporary Composers Helping to Push String Music to New Heights” by STRINGS magazine on the upcoming 25th-anniversary issue (March 2012), PAUL YEON LEE is a Korean-American composer who is committed to writing the most poignant, eloquent, and passionate music that he can imagine. Lee appreciates all types of music. However, his major musical influences are Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric François Chopin, Gustav Mahler, Miles Davis and Korean traditional folk music. Lee's music has received many performances by various musicians and ensembles throughout the United States, Europe and Asia including the world renowned Gramophone Award recipient French pianist Pascal Rogé and his wife pianist Ami Hakuno Rogé, gifted flutists Christina Jennings and Mary Fukushima, Speculum Musicae, Contemporary Music Ensemble at Mannes College of Music, Del Sol String Quartet, Chicago Korean Music Ensemble, Florida State University New Music Ensemble, Ne(x)tworks Ensemble, University of Missouri-Kansas City Musica Nova Ensemble, Cutting Edge Ensemble, Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, Indiana University Percussion Ensemble, Erato Chamber Orchestra, Indiana University Chamber Orchestra, Wayne State University Orchestra, University of Michigan Philharmonia Orchestra, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, Redwood Symphony, Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Lee is a current Composer-in-Residence at Flushing Town Hall in Queens, New York. A recipient of the 2001 Helen F. Whitaker Commission from the American Composers Orchestra, Lee has also received many commissions including from Redwood Symphony, Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, Anthony J. Cirone (former San Francisco Symphony Percussionist and Chair of the Percussion Department at Indiana University in Bloomington), Amos Yang (cellist of the Seattle Symphony), Joshua Friedlander (violinist of the Florida State University New Music Ensemble), Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, and Pascal Rogé. Lee is currently composing "Scattered Wind" (흩어진 바람) for Daegeum and Piano, five-movement String Quartet for Del Sol String Quartet, "Pale Flame" for DuoSolo (flute and piano), third commission “Marimba Concerto” for Anthony J. Cirone, and new piano four hands music for Pascal Rogé and Ami Hakuno Rogé. Lee's new work "Echo of a Dream" (꿈의 메아리) for full orchestra was commissioned and premiered by the American Composers Orchestra at SONiC FESTiVAL on Saturday, October 22, 2011 at the World Financial Center Winter Garden, NY. After the concert, Echo of a Dream was voted the audience’s favorite of all and broadcasted on the SONiC Re: Sound WQXR Q2, New York Public Radio's internet station on Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
Lee has received many honors and awards including the New York City Con Edison Musicians’ Residency: Composition Program (2011), Earplay Donald Aird International Composers Composition Competition (honorable mention, 2009), Korean Cultural Service NY fund (2009), Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Composer Workshop (2008), Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2005), Pacific Symphony American Composer’s Competition (semi-finalist, 2003), ACO Whitaker New Music Reading Sessions (2001), Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1999), Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony) Young Composers’ Competition (1999), Chicago Symphony Orchestra First Hearing Composition Competition (finalist, 1998) and ASCAP. Lee has been a fellow at the SONiC FESTiVAL in New York (2011), World Music Festival Millennium Park in Chicago (2009), Taranaki International Festival of the Arts, New Zealand (2009), Cutting Edge Concerts Festival (2005, 2009), 10th Adam Chamber Music Festival in Nelson, New Zealand (2009), American Composers Alliance’s Festival of American Music (2004), MacDowell Colony (2003), Atlantic Center for the Arts (2002), Kansas Symposium of New Music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence (2001), Mid-America Composers’ Festival at Grinnell College in Iowa (1999), Mid-West Composers’ Symposium at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio (1997), California State University Summer Arts Composers’ Workshop in Long Beach (1996) and numerous SCI Conferences in the United States including the National Annual Conference in New York (1999).
As a performer, Lee has spent many years as a baritone in church and university choirs. He has sung numerous oratorios and repertoires including Messiah by George Frederic Handel, Requiem by Johannes Brahms and opera excerpts by Giuseppe Verdi with San Jose Symphony under maestro Leonid Grin. Also, Lee has been a member of the San José State University Gamelan Ensemble where he has been privileged to perform with the unique instruments built by composer Lou Harrison himself. As a conductor, Lee has served as an assistant conductor at Korean church. Furthermore, Lee has conducted university chamber ensembles, the University of Michigan Symphonic Band and Wayne State University Orchestra during reading sessions. In spare time, Lee enjoys playing alto saxophone for fun and little piano pieces by Chopin such as Nocturnes, Waltzes, and Mazurkas. He is currently learning to play acoustic guitar.
As an arranger, Lee has been privileged to collaborate with Pascal Rogé and Ami Hakuno Rogé on L'HISTOIRE DE BABAR by Francis Poulenc. Lee has transcribed the music for Piano Four Hands and Narrator, which will be published and on sale by Chester Edition in London. Pascal and Ami Rogé have premiered Lee's version in London, England in 1997 and they have been performing it in Italy, Japan, United States, Australia, and other countries. Lee has also assisted a sensational Jazz/Cabaret singer Lisa Kirchner on her 2011 album "Something To Sing About". Lee has transposed several songs including In Autumn by Charles Ives, Fort Tryon Park by John Corigliano, Suicide in C Minor by William Schimmel, Early in the Morning by Ned Rorem, Lelia's Song by John Adams, Acrostic Song by David Del Tredici, Strange by John Harbison, Night Make My Day by William Bolcom, Under the Willow Tree by Samuel Barber, The Little Horses and Long Time Ago by Aaron Copland.
As a music engraver, Lee has used Finale notation program for several years. However, he now uses Sibelius program for his own music. Lee has also engraved many music scores and parts for other composers including Paul Chihara, Victoria Bond and Gabriela Lena Frank.
Lee has earned a doctorate degree (DMA) in music composition at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His principal teachers have included Leslie Bassett, Bright Sheng, William Bolcom, Pablo Furman and Allen Strange. Furthermore, Lee has participated in master classes with George Crumb, Andrew Imbrie and Mario Davidovsky. Lee is a member of ASCAP and serves as an Executive Assistant at Korea Music Foundation (KMF) in New York.
"... an excellent and interesting composer, with a passion that is not often found in music nowadays."
- William Bolcom
"Life without Passion is meaningless... I am a composer, and I speak through my music that is sincere, personal, poignant, lyrical, mysterious and passionate. This is what I do and I do not know any other way. If you want to know about me, you must LISTEN carefully to my music. You will learn the genuine and authentic side of me."
- Paul Yeon Lee
