Composer Eun Young Lee, a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, has been lauded for her “imaginative use of distinctive sonorities,” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer) and writes music for a variety of instrumentations. She has served on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory since 2014 as well as at Tufts University as a visiting professor in 2016-2017.
She has worked with the New York New Music Ensemble, Pacifica Quartet, eighth blackbird, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Gemini Ensemble, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, dissonArt ensemble, Radius ensemble, and ensemble mise-en, among others.
She has received a number of awards, including first prize at the Tsang-Houei Hsu International Music Composition Competition in Taiwan. Her music has been featured on several CDs including recent releases - Nong by gamin, E Plurius Unum by Liza Stepanova, and From East to West by Sojung Lee Hong.
While at MacDowell, she will be working on part of her Korean Peace Project, Pax Aeterna, a piece for bassoon and string quartet for bassoonist Adrian Morejon and Momenta Quartet. The piece is based on both North and South Korean folk tunes portraying a transformation from the dire state of Korea during the Korean War to a more desirable future.
At MacDowell in 2010, Lee completed two commissioned works to be performed in the Cincinnati Conservatory and to be used for Sejong Cultural Society in Chicago. She also continued work on a series of solos and electronics including use of a traditional Korean instrument, and made recordings of various sounds (birds, chickens, sheep) at MacDowell to incorporate them into her music.
During her 2024 residency, she completed a solo organ piece, Seung-Chun and a piano trio, tra di noi in addition to working on Pax Aeterna for bassoon and string quartet. She has been working on Pax Aeterna as a part of her Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023. Her solo piano piece, Nam-Ok Lee will be featured in an upcoming CD release in September 2024.
