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. He was born in Atlanta, GA, and raised in Maryland. His primary instrument is the trumpet, and he can also perform the piano. His second language is Korean.
Performances and collaborations with the Albany Symphony, USC Thornton Symphony, USC Thornton Edge, Hear Now!, International Contemporary Ensemble, Lyris Quartet, Juilliard Orchestra, New Orleans Chamber Orchestra, Arapahoe Philharmonic, Moravian Philharmonic Chamber Players, Kharkiv 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 Boston New Music Initiative, Bowdoin Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music, ISU Red Note Music Festival, ISU MusicNow!, Utah Arts Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, FUBiS (Berlin, Germany), European American Musical Alliance (Paris, France), the Albany Consort (led by Maestro David Alan Miller), along with many terrific soloists including Jiwon Evelyn Kwark, Nic Gerpe, HaEun Lee, Hui Wu, Han Chen, Cameron O’Connor, among many others.
Honors include the Charles Ives Scholarship from the Academy of Arts and Letters, USC Sadye J. Moss Composition Prize, Arthur Friedman Prize – from Juilliard School Annual New Works for Orchestra Competition, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, Winner of the New Orleans Chamber Orchestra/Spectri Sonori Competition (2018) and An Art Artistry International Guitar Composition Competition (2018), Letter of praise from BMI for his Metropolis Concerto for Piano and Sinfonietta (2009), 1st Prize Winner of the NACUSA Competition (2013) for Farewell… for String Quartet, Chamber Music of Rochester Howard Hanson Prize, and Eastman School of Music Bernard Rogers Memorial Prizes. Michael teaches at Chapman University and, before this position, taught at USC. 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.
