Trey Lee concluded his debut last October at New York's Carnegie Hall in style - by earning a standing ovation from a full house at Stern Auditorium.
The Chinese cellist sensation, who had performed Zhuang Zhou's Dream by Zhao Zhiping with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, also received laudatory notices from United States music critics. The New York Times declared him an ?excellent cellist [who performs] with enveloping richness and lyrical sensitivity?. Then again, accolades for the charismatic young musician, who plays on an 1828 Giovanni Pressenda cello, have been coming thick and fast. Gramophone magazine has hailed him as ?a miracle?. The Strad has called him ?a master of subtle transition,? and Italy's Il Corriere della Sera has anointed him as one of China's ?Golden Boys? of classical music.
A soloist, much in demand internationally, Lee has endeared himself to music lovers with a performing style that lends pronounced emotional sensitivity and intellectual depth to a subtly nuanced technical virtuosity.
An innovative artist striving for new challenges, he is also spearheading the promotion of chamber music in Asia - as he did at the 1st Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival last summer by serving as artistic director.
At his much-anticipated recital in Hong Kong on May 30, under the auspices of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the cellist will perform with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra to kick off the Great Music series.
A versatile ensemble, that varies in size from a string quartet to a symphony orchestra, Avanti! boasts an encompassing repertoire. Finland's largest daily Helsingin Sanomat has likened the orchestra, which exercises a great influence on Finland's musical scene, to the legendary King Midas by quipping that ?anything it touches immediately turns to gold?.
