Posts by Scott Lee

Over the weekend my piano trio Between the Lines was performed as part of the UGA New Music Festival by an incredible trio of UGA graduate students: Zachary Helms, Alexis Boylan, and Alyssa Soriano. The festival featured performances of works by a number of other UF faculty, students, and alumni, alongside pieces written by composers from around the country. Big thanks to UGA faculty composers Emily Koh and Peter Van Zandt Lane for a great festival!

I had a blast in Tallahassee at FSU’s Festival of New Music this past weekend, where my guitar and clarinet duo <i>Evasive Maneuvers</i> was performed by Steven Higbee and Logan Florence. The festival featured the music of Julia Wolfe (see photo) alongside many other composers, and included a concert by the Bang on a Can All Stars. Much gratitude to FSU faculty composers Eren Gümrükçüoğlu, Liliya Ugay, and Cliff Callender!

I’m excited to head to Denison University in Granville Ohio this March for a performance of my string quartet Engine Trouble by the GRAMMY® award-winning Attacca Quartet. The performance will take place on the last day of the festival, Saturday, March 28 on the Vail Series. The festival will also feature a bunch of great music by other composers including Gabriel Kahane and featured composer David Lang.

This week the Nagoya Composition Society gave the Japanese premiere of my string quartet Engine Trouble at Nishi Bunker Little Theater in Nagoya, Japan. It was selected as an example of an innovative contemporary string quartet, and was the only work on the program by a foreign, non-member composer. The concert organizers were drawn to the piece’s ability to challenge the stereotype of contemporary music as difficult and thematically heavy. You can watch a video of the performance at the link below!

Scott was recently interviewed on the student-led podcast and video series, Clexical, which aims to make contemporary music more accessible to everyone, including younger people. The conversation was wide-ranging, touching on musical inspiration, compositional process, and broader issues in the field of contemporary music. Check out the video below!

Rocket City New Music performed my three-movement sextet Liftoff for violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, and trumpet as part of their season-closing concert on December 14 in Huntsville Alabama. The concert, also titled “Liftoff,” took place in an aircraft hangar at Huntsville National Airport that had been transformed into a concert venue just for the occasion – a fitting backdrop for a piece inspired by the curving trajectories of space shuttle launches.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday at Pulp Arts Recording Studio in Gainesville, Florida recording my new song cycle Greetings from Florida: Postcards from Paradise. It features the incredible jazz singer and guitarist Camila Meza alongside a small chamber ensemble. Look out for the album to be released in late 2025 or early 2026!

Tuesday marked the World Premiere of Greetings from Florida: Postcards from Paradise, my new genre-bending song cycle exploring the theme of Florida as a perceived “utopia,” featuring jazz singer and guitarist Camila Meza alongside an ensemble of UF faculty and local performers.

A panel discussion preceded the concert featuring composer Scott Lee, poet and lyricist Carolina Hospital, singer and guitarist Camila Meza, UF musicologist Imani Mosley, and USF Florida Studies scholar Thomas Hallock.

I’m thrilled to have been chosen to receive a commission from the Barlow Endowment, based at Brigham Young University. As part of this commission, I’ll compose a 15-20 minute string sextet for the Flatirons Chamber Music Festival in Boulder, Colorado, set to premiere in Summer 2026. Titled Strata, the piece will draw inspiration from the distinct layers of geological activity visible throughout the Colorado landscape, serving as a rich metaphor for the layers of human experience and societal structure.

Florida State University composition faculty invited me to work with their student composers in a busy day of activities on April 18, 2024. I gave a composition masterclass where I provided critiques of works by four student composers, offering constructive feedback and insights. My visit also included a presentation of my own music to the students and faculty. The day culminated in a concert by FSU’s new music ensemble, Polymorphia, who performed my Split Screen for piano, keyboard, percussion, and drum set alongside eight student works. The residency served as a fruitful exchange of music and ideas, and will hopefully lead to sustained interaction between the UF and FSU composition areas.