About
Eclectic in styles and notations, Michael M Lee’s music has been cited for its “rhythmical drive [and] traditional harmonic touches that are both surprising and inevitable” [Portland Herald Press on his music performed at the The Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music held every Summer at Bowdoin]; “For all of the strengths of the other pieces, it is Michael Lee’s that made the most impact on this listener. But all six pieces are strong, and we should high-five Navona for bringing more new chamber works, and indeed new composers, to the public’s attention” [Colin Clarke at Fanfare Magazine (review will be released in 2024] on Lee’s 2020: Danse Macabre (’23);
“Elsewhere, tradition is gleefully thrown to the wind—such as with Lee’s stunning Farewell… for string quartet, with its ever-shifting rhythms, timbres, and moods” [Navona Records]; “fluid drama [and] focused intensity” [AblazeRecords Millennial Masters Vol. 2 on Capriccio for Violin and Piano], and “promising composition for the future” [Letter from BMI on Metropolis Concerto for Piano and Ensemble (2009)].
Michael M Lee is an active composer and teacher with a pedagogy background in composition, theory, post-tonal analysis, and aural skills. Based in Los Angeles, he tries to discover different techniques and approaches for expanding one’s pitch language. Most recently, the Juventas New Music Ensemble recorded Part I of his recent composition for the string trio, Danse Macabre (Part I was released under the title 2020: Danse Macabre) which was commercially released on October 27, 2023. A graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music (D.M.A. 2017), the Juilliard School (M.M. 2012), and the Eastman School of Music (B.M. 2008). Michael was born in Atlanta, GA, and raised in Maryland. His primary instrument is the trumpet, can also perform the piano, and his second language is Korean.
Michael’s compositions have been performed by the Albany Symphony, USC Thornton Symphony, USC Thornton Edge, Juilliard Orchestra, Hear Now!, International Contemporary Ensemble, Lyris Quartet, New Orleans Chamber Orchestra, Arapahoe Philharmonic, Moravian Philharmonic Chamber Players, Kharkov Philharmonic, Oradea State Philharmonic, Chamber Music of Rochester, Juventas New Music Ensemble, New York Virtuoso Singers, Loadbang, Ensemble ARI, Serrenata String Quartet, ALEA III Contemporary Ensemble, and the Boston’s New Music Initiative. His works have also been performed at music festivals (most recently at San Francisco Music Day on October 9, 2022 at the SF War Memorial Hall), concert series, and a variety of composition workshops, including Bowdoin International Music Festival’s Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, Illinois State University’s Red Note Music Festival, Indiana State University’s MusicNow!, Utah Arts Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Composers’ Symposium, FUBiS (Summer studies in Berlin, Germany), European American Musical Alliance, the Albany Consort (concert and workshop led by Maestro David Alan Miller), along with many terrific soloists including Jiwon Evelyn Kwark, Nic Gerpe, Han Chen, Hui Wu, HaEun Lee, Cameron O’Connor, among many others. His music has received recognition from the Fanfare Magazine, Baltimore Sun, Portland Herald Press, New York Chronicle, among others.
Michael is the recipient of the Charles Ives Scholarship from the Academy of Arts and Letters, USC Sadye J. Moss Composition Prize, Arthur Friedman Prize – from Juilliard’s New Works for Orchestra Composition Competition, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, Winner of the 2018 New Orleans Chamber Orchestra/Spectri Sonori and An Art Artistry’s International Guitar Composition Competitions, 2009 Letter of praise from BMI for Metropolis Concerto , 1st Prize in the 2013 NACUSA Competition for Farewell…, and the Eastman School of Music’s Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers Memorial Prizes.
Michael teaches theory and composition at Chapman University’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music, and has also taught at USC Thornton School of Music. Teaching is one of his primary commitments and passions, as he actively teaches theory and composition while currently using a wheelchair due to an SCI (L1-2) falling accident in September 2021.
Michael Lee brainstorming new ideas for his next composition
Listen to Come What May, premiered by Harold Rosenbaum and the New York Virtuoso Singers