Music

My recent music has been described as being “madcap, lyrical, stunning, dramatic, meditative, tonal, and atonal,” some of these words being incongruous with the other. It has always been somewhat of a challenge for me to put one or two labels on what my compositions “sound like,” many times being that I try, I attempt to make the next work a “journey of its own,” many times focusing on techniques and pitch combinations not used in my prior works. I recently had my challenging choral work Come What May commissioned by Harold Rosenbaum and the New York Virtuoso Singers. Here’s what TheatreScene thought: “The last piece of the evening was Come What May with music and lyrics by Michael M. Lee…This three-section piece was the concert’s most structurally complex work: the exceptionally technically demanding work begins with a fast dance-like movement, is centered by a rhythmically looser section, and concludes with a darker, more abstract movement that refers back to the opening speedy sophistication with intimate, lyrical hopefulness.”

My most recent music on Navona Records ‘Lock & Key, Vol. III’ (2023), ‘Between the Echoes’ (2016), and Ablaze Records ‘Millenial Masters vol. 2 (2011) and 9 (2019)’ CD/Digital albums can be streamed and/or purchased on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, Deezer, Tidal, and Idiago — send me a message if you have any questions or comments.

Listen to Ghost Break Dance below, premiered by Ensemble ARI in 2019.

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Purchase

“2020: Danse Macabre” for String Trio (Part I, 2022, currently working on Part II) recorded by the Juventas New Music Ensemble for (Oliver Caplan (dir.), Ryan Shannon (vln.), Lu Yu (vla.), Timothy Paek (vlc.)) at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, MA.

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More on “Lock & Key, Vol. III” Digital Album (Release date: October 27, 2023, #NV6561):

“Composer Michael Lee is represented previously, once, on the Fanfare Archive: his A Voice in the Waves (Fanfare 35:5, on a disc Millennial Masters, Volume Two on Ablaze). Here, it si 2020: Danse Macabre that is under the spotlight, a four-movement piece inspired by both the pandemic and a personal accident sadly suffered by the composer in 2021. This is a trio for violin (Ryan Shannon), viola (Lu Yu), and cello (Timothy Paek). The first movement, “Appearance of the Macabre,” sets the stall, introducing his timbral and harmonic range including extended techniques, reveals a composer of great sonic imagination. There is an exuberance to the writing that is mirrored in the present performance (the fairly close recording helps). A dance swirls out of control at one point, phrases spiraling upwards. In contrast, a “Nocturne”; but not as much contrast as one might expect. Glissandos and portamentos imply a fairground mirror distortion of a traditional nocturne. The scherzo is entitled “Shadow Dances,” angular, unable to settle and scratchy (deliberately so). If the nocturne held implied nightmares, they become far more clear here. It is the final movement, “Lullaby of Hope,” that offers at least a partial way out to the light, but even here it is clear the path is not always smooth (and sometimes appears to be rather manic).
This is Lee’s first tring trio, and he is currently composing a “second multi-movement part” to go with what is presented here. It will be fascinating to hear it, should the opportunity allow.
…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 from Fanfare Magazine (2024)