Thomas Oboe Lee
b. 1945
American
Summary
quartets, nine concerti, choral works, song cycles, and scores of
chamber music. He has received many awards for his work: the Rome Prize
Fellowship, the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy and
Institute of Arts and Letters, two Guggenheim Fellowships, two National
Endowment for the Arts Composers Fellowships, two Massachusetts Artists
Fellowships, First Prize at the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards for his String Quartet No. 3 ... "child of Uranus, father of Zeus,"
the Georges Enesco International Composition Prize, the Koussevitzky
Tanglewood Composition Prize, recording grants from the Martha Baird
Rockefeller Fund and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, residencies at
Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and the Charles Ives Center in Danbury, CT,
and Charleston, SC.
He has received commissions from
Amnesty International USA, the Thoreau Society, the Fromm Music
Foundation, the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, the American Jazz
Philharmonic, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Landmarks
Orchestra, the Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Brockton Symphony
Orchestra, the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston, the Lansdowne
Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha
Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Biography
Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo,
Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After
graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with BA in music, he went
on to study music composition with William Thomas McKinley, George
Russell and Gunther Schuller at the New England Conservatory (1972-76);
with Betsy Jolas at Tanglewood (1976) and Earl Kim at Harvard University
(1977-81). He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College
since 1990.
Mr. Lee has composed over a hundred works: six symphonies, nine string
quartets, nine concerti, choral works, song cycles, and scores of
chamber music. He has received many awards for his work: the Rome Prize
Fellowship, the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy and
Institute of Arts and Letters, two Guggenheim Fellowships, two National
Endowment for the Arts Composers Fellowships, two Massachusetts Artists
Fellowships, First Prize at the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards for his String Quartet No. 3 ... "child of Uranus, father of Zeus,"
the Georges Enesco International Composition Prize, the Koussevitzky
Tanglewood Composition Prize, recording grants from the Martha Baird
Rockefeller Fund and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, residencies at
Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and the Charles Ives Center in Danbury, CT,
and Charleston, SC.
In 1984, Esquire magazine selected him as one of two composers in its
First Annual Register, "The Best Of The New Generation: Men and Women
Under 40 Who Are Changing America." He has received commissions from
Amnesty International USA, the Thoreau Society, the Fromm Music
Foundation, the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, the American Jazz
Philharmonic, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Landmarks
Orchestra, the Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Brockton Symphony
Orchestra, the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston, the Lansdowne
Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha
Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Additional
orchestral performances include those by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
with Keith Lockhart, the Charleston Symphony with David Stahl, the Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Kahane, and the American
Composers Orchestras with Gunther Schuller.
Some of his early works are published by G. Schirmer/Associated Music
Publishers, Inc. and the rest are published by Departed Feathers Music.
His music has been recorded on GM, MCA Classics, Northeastern and
Nonesuch Records. Two solo compact disks of his music are commercially
available: "Morango - almost a tango" featuring the Hawthorne String
Quartet on Koch International Classics released in 2002, and "The
Visconti Sforza Tarot Cards, opus 66 - Twenty-two salon pieces for two
pianos" featuring the Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo on the Arsis label
released in 2003. Mr. Lee is also active as a jazz flutist. An LP
recording of his band, Departed Feathers, is available on GM Recordings.
Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After
graduating from the University of Pittsburgh with BA in music, he went
on to study music composition with William Thomas McKinley, George
Russell and Gunther Schuller at the New England Conservatory (1972-76);
with Betsy Jolas at Tanglewood (1976) and Earl Kim at Harvard University
(1977-81). He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College
since 1990.
Mr. Lee has composed over a hundred works: six symphonies, nine string
quartets, nine concerti, choral works, song cycles, and scores of
chamber music. He has received many awards for his work: the Rome Prize
Fellowship, the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy and
Institute of Arts and Letters, two Guggenheim Fellowships, two National
Endowment for the Arts Composers Fellowships, two Massachusetts Artists
Fellowships, First Prize at the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards for his String Quartet No. 3 ... "child of Uranus, father of Zeus,"
the Georges Enesco International Composition Prize, the Koussevitzky
Tanglewood Composition Prize, recording grants from the Martha Baird
Rockefeller Fund and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, residencies at
Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and the Charles Ives Center in Danbury, CT,
and Charleston, SC.
In 1984, Esquire magazine selected him as one of two composers in its
First Annual Register, "The Best Of The New Generation: Men and Women
Under 40 Who Are Changing America." He has received commissions from
Amnesty International USA, the Thoreau Society, the Fromm Music
Foundation, the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, the American Jazz
Philharmonic, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Landmarks
Orchestra, the Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Brockton Symphony
Orchestra, the Civic Symphony Orchestra of Boston, the Lansdowne
Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha
Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Additional
orchestral performances include those by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
with Keith Lockhart, the Charleston Symphony with David Stahl, the Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra with Jeffrey Kahane, and the American
Composers Orchestras with Gunther Schuller.
Some of his early works are published by G. Schirmer/Associated Music
Publishers, Inc. and the rest are published by Departed Feathers Music.
His music has been recorded on GM, MCA Classics, Northeastern and
Nonesuch Records. Two solo compact disks of his music are commercially
available: "Morango - almost a tango" featuring the Hawthorne String
Quartet on Koch International Classics released in 2002, and "The
Visconti Sforza Tarot Cards, opus 66 - Twenty-two salon pieces for two
pianos" featuring the Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo on the Arsis label
released in 2003. Mr. Lee is also active as a jazz flutist. An LP
recording of his band, Departed Feathers, is available on GM Recordings.