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Angus LEE
Mr. Angus LEE
Assistant Lecturer
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E anguslyw@hku.hk          k Room 11.13, 11/F Run Run Shaw Tower

Angus Lee is one of the leading performer-composers of his generation. A graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2014) and the Royal Academy of Music (2016), Lee has appeared at major music festivals in his capacities as a flautist, composer and conductor in Europe and Asia, including CYCLE Music & Art Festival (IS), ilSUONO Contemporary Music Week (IT), IRCAM ManiFeste (FR), Lucerne Festival (CH), Seoul International Computer Music Festival (KR), Shanghai New Music Week (CN), Ticino Musica Festival (CH).

Lee is recognised as one of the leading flautists in HK specialising in contemporary music, lauded for his dynamic and detail-oriented approach to interpretation. He became flautist of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble in 2016, dedicated to the promotion of contemporary music in his performative and pedagogical capacities. Not only has he taken part in regional and world premieres by local and international composers, he has also worked in numerous workshops for student composers, shaping musical innovators of the forthcoming generation.

As a composer, Lee was initially autodidactic. Since 2016, he has undertaken studies with leading composers of today at various summer academies, including Franck Bedrossian, Oscar Bianchi, Frédéric Durieux, Philippe Manoury, Isabel Mundry, Dimitri Papageorgiou and Yann Robin. His works have been premiered by members of Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Multilatérale, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Klangforum Wien. In 2021, he was commissioned to co-create his first opera, Chasing Waterfalls, with the Berlin-based sound collective KlingKlangKlong, for Semperoper Dresden's 2022 - 23 Season Opening.

Parallel to his creative and performative activites, Lee is also a passionate pedagogue, having been conferred the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM) in 2020, a teaching diploma issued by the Academy to students who underwent specialist pedagogical training and passed a highly rigorous assessment process. He is currently a part-time chamber music faculty at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, as well as a teaching faculty of the Lucerne Festival Academy 2022 and 2023.

Selected Publications
Research
Stage
Orchestral
Ensemble & Solo
  • 2022
    Chasing Waterfalls [artificial intelligence opera in 7 scenes] (70'), with a libretto by Christiane Neudecker and electronics by Klingklangklong. Commissioned by Phase.7 Performing Arts Berlin. Première: September & November 2022, Semperoper Dresden (DE) and New Vision Arts Festival (HK), by Staatskapelle Dresden and Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Angus Lee (conductor).
  • 2024
    ... aux cendres [study II for orchestra] (9'). Commissioned by the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Première: November 2024, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Elim Chan (conductor).
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    Des flammes... [study I for orchestra] (5'). Commissioned by the Hong Kong Philharmonic under the Robert H. N. Ho Hong Kong Composers' Scheme 2024. Première: June 2024, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Jung-ho Pak (conductor).
  • 2025
    hic / nunc [Lapsus memoriae XI: palinsesto su due memoria immaginari], for amplified ensemble & fixed media (15'). Commissioned by Music Biennale Zagreb and Hong Kong New Music Ensemble with sponsorship from the CASH Music Fund. Première: April 2025, 33rd Music Biennale Zagreb, Musicians of Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Vertixe Sonora Ensemble and NAE Collective, Angus Lee (conductor).
    2024
    Anamorphologia [idyll-caprice after a reading of Jon Fosse's A Shining], for solo piano (8'). Commissioned by Kent Fu. Première: December 2024, Kent Fu (piano).
    2022
    Lapsus memoriae X [improvvisazioni su tre frammenti narrati], for spatialised ensemble & fixed media (18'). Commissioned by MaD.asia for NVAF outreach programme 'A Date with Dogs.' Première: October 2022, New Vision Arts Festival, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Angus Lee (conductor).
    2021
    ...ché la diritta via era smarrita, for ensemble & obligato marimba (12'). Commissioned by Samuel Chan. Première: October 2022, Samuel Chan (marimba), NOVA Ensemble, Angus Lee (conductor).
    2020
    Palimpsest II, for string quartet (8'). Première: April 2022, outHear New Music Week (GR), members of Klangforum Wien.

    Rage Over Lost Time [preamble to Beethoven's Alla Ingharese quasi un Capriccio (Op.129)], for two pianos (4'). Commissioned by the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards. Première: December 2020, Cornell University's 'Beethoven and Pianos: Off the Beaten Path' Festival (US), HereNowHear (piano duo by pianists Andrew Zhou & Ryan McCullough).

    Apophiaisn Scriptures, for contrabassoon, double bass, piano & fixed media (10'). Première: October 202o, SPLICE Festival IV (US), Subaerial Collective.

    Quaranta [40 étude-fragments], for solo violin (8'). Première: September 2022, Jeanne-Marie Conquer (violin).

    Lethescape [5 meditation-fragments], for bass flute, violin & cello (10'). Première: June 2021, IRCAM ManiFeste (FR), members of Ensemble Intercontemporain.

    Vestigium I & II, for solo percussion (variable). Première: London VAULT Festival 2020 (UK), Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2023 (NL), Angela Hui Wai-nok (percussion).
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    2019
    Schattenhaft [frontispiece II], for five instruments (5'). Première: July 2019, Festival Ticino Musica (CH), Ensemble Modern, Angus Lee (conductor).

    cendré [frontispiece II], for solo alto flute with harp and cello (8'). Première: July 2019, Matteo Cesari (solo alto flute), Ensemble Multilatérale, Léo Warynski (conductor).‍‍
    2018
    APOCRYPHA, for five instruments (13'). Commissioned by RTHK Radio 4. Première: November 2019, West Kowloon Cultural District Taiwan Arts Festival 2019, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Angus Lee (conductor).

    Melancholia, for solo viola & fixed media (12'). Première: October 2019, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, William Lane (viola). 
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    triumvirate    , for saxophone, percussion & piano (7'). Première: June 2018, Trio Accanto; Oct 2019, PRISM Chamber Music Festival (HK), EXORDIUM Collective.‍‍
    2017
    sous rature, duo for violin & viola (4'). Première: August 2017, Ciclo de Música Contemporánea de Oviedo (ES), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.

    Et lux perpetua, for spatialised trio (10'). Première: June 2017, ilSuono Contemporary Music Week (IT), Ensemble Suono Giallo.
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Performance Highlights
Live Performance
Discography
  • 2025
    Music Biennale Zagreb [Croatia] and the Do Audible Concert Series [Spain] (April). World première of works for ensemble and electronics by Sonja Mutić, Camilo Mendez, Pilar Miralles, and Angus Lee. Joint Ensemble consisting of musicians from the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HK), Vertixe Sonora Ensemble (ES), and NAE Collective (HR), Angus Lee (conductor).
    2024
    West Kowloon Cultural District 'Towards Transcendence' (March). Works for string ensemble by Tüür, Wolfe, Glass and Adams. Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Angus Lee (conductor).

    Stuttgart Eclat New Music Festival (February). Works for large ensemble by Irene Galindo Quero and Philipp Krebs. Ensemble Modern, Angus Lee (conductor).
    2023
    HKNME 'Listening Room' recital series. Works for solo flute by Scelsi, Jarrell, Benjamin, Pintscher and Hosokawa.

    Hong Kong Arts Festival (March). Asian première of The Book of Water by Michel van der Aa. Esmé Quartet, Angus Lee (conductor).

    Frankfurt CRESC Biennale for Current Music (February). Works for large ensemble by Piotr Peszat and Philipp Krebs. Ensemble Modern, Angus Lee (conductor).

    LCSD "City Hall Virtuosi" recital series (January). Works for flute by Scelsi, Respighi, Mantovani, Prokofiev, Milhaud and Kapustin. With Mark Hui (piano) and Chak-yin Pun (cello).
    2022
    HKUST Cosmopolis Festival (October). Asian première of momentum "I": death & escape for bass flute & electronics by Stylianos Dimou. Angus Lee (bass flute), Stylianos Dimou (electronics).

    Frankfurt CRESC Biennale for Current Music (February). Works for large ensemble by Piotr Peszat and Philipp Krebs. Ensemble Modern, Angus Lee (conductor).
    2021
    CityU Arts Festival (April). Works for flute by Poulenc, Messiaen & Fauré. With Shelley Ng (piano).
    2019
    West Kowloon Cultural District Taiwan Arts Festival (October). Works for ensemble by Lin, Cheng, Liu and Lee. Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Angus Lee (conductor).
    2018
    LCSD "Our Music Talents" recital series (October). Works for flute by Jolivet, Mantovani, Liberman, Lee and R. Strauss. With Rachel Cheung and Mark Hui (piano).
    2016
    Lucerne Easter Festival "Memorial Concert for Pierre Boulez" (March). Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe… Originel) for solo flute and 9 instruments by Pierre Boulez. With LFA Alumni Orchestra, Matthias Pintscher (conductor).
    2015
    Lucerne Festival "Pierre Boulez 90th Birthday Celebration" concert series (August). Mémoriale (…explosante-fixe… Originel) for solo flute and 9 instruments, by Pierre Boulez. With Lucerne Festival Academy Ensemble, Julien Leroy (conductor).
  • 2024
    Lee, Angus. Rage Over Lost Time (Preamble to Beethoven's "Alla ingherese quasi un capriccio"). From sedgeflowers | MANTRA. HereNowHear (piano duo). False Azure Records no.2. Compact disc & digital album.
    2024
    Mendez, Camilo. Cancion de la Distancia I & II. From Camilo Mendez: Distant Fragments. Angus Lee (flute). Kairos 0022038KAI. Compact disc & digital album.
    2022
    Lee, Angus. APOCRYPHA. Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. Conducted by Angus Lee. HKNME Hong Kong Monograph HKM002. Digital album.
    2021
    Lee, Angus. Vestigium I & 2. From Let Me Tell You Something. Angela Hui Wai-nok (percussion). Nonclassical NONCLSS047. Digital album & cassette.
Courses Offered 2024/25