Shyen Lee

A saxophonist from Taiwan, Shyen Lee currently serves as the Professor of Saxophone in Mahidol University, Thailand. Lee was appointed to be the Organizer and Artistic Director of the International Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition and World Saxophone Congress XV. In 2016, Shyen Lee founded the Asian Saxophone Congress and organized the first conference in Chia-yi, Taiwan. He was elected as the Internationals Saxophone Committee of the World Saxophone Congress from 2009-2012 and 2018-2021.

Shyen Lee appeared as a soloist or recitalist in various concert halls including Lincoln Center and Paine Hall at Harvard University, and is featured regularly as a performer at the various World Saxophone Congress in Montreal, Minneapolis, Ljubljana (Slovenia), Bangkok, St. Andrew (UK), Strasbourg, and Zagreb (Croatia). Invited as a featured artist at various music festivals, Shyen presented concerts in Columbia, SC; Champaign, Il (USA); Kiev, Odessa (Ukraine); Malloca (Spain); Singapore; Fermo (Italy); Beijing; and Shanghai. Lee has performed concert tours and given master classes in Paris, Bordeaux, Vienna, Krakow (Poland), and Taipei. He has also been a concerto soloist with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. After being a jury member at the Odessa Golden Saxophone International Competition, he performed as a concerto soloist in Philharmonic Society Theatre during the gala concert.

Shyen Lee has commissioned and premiered pieces by John Harbison, Frank Ticheli, Larry Bell, Gunther Schuller, and Bernard Rands. In addition to performing saxophone repertoire by Western composers, he has also commissioned pieces by leading Chinese composers including Lei Liang, Yiu-Kwong Chung, Tzyy-Sheng, Che-Yi Lee, Chihchun Chi-sun Lee, and Shih-Hui Chen. Several Thai emerging composers have often written new works for him, including Narong Prangcharoen, Jiradej Setabundhu and Boomrat Sirirattanapan.

To promote saxophone performance in Asia, he organizes saxophone summer camps in Bangkok, Taiwan and China on a yearly basis. Over the years in Thailand, he successfully established the tradition and pedagogy of concert saxophone in the country.

Shyen Lee studied with Kenneth Radnofsky in New England Conservatory (BM, 96) and Dr. John Sampen in Bowling Green University (MM, 98).

Performers

Shyen Lee, saxophone
I-An Chen, piano

Programme

Vincent David: Nuée ardente

Roshanne Etezady: Streetlegal

Mark Engebretson: The Outside for alto saxophone and computer