Cellist Trey Lee is on a mission to introduce overseas artists to the city
An early musical encounter changed cellist Trey Lee's life. Now he wants young players to be inspired and motivated by the same type of experience, writes Sam Olluver
Hong Kong-born cellist Trey Lee Chui-yee remembers his eureka moment very clearly: it happened during his studies in the US. Lee attended the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York, then took a degree in economics at Harvard University, before making a return to music via a master's degree from the Boston New England Conservatory.
While at Harvard, he decided to lock away all his musical aspirations and pursue a career in management consultancy. As a final fling before loosening his bow and packing his resin away, Lee decided to participate in the Blossom Music Festival, in Cleveland.
I thought, this is my last hurrah before I quit cello and never touch the thing again
"I thought, this is my last hurrah before I quit cello and never touch the thing again," the Berlin-based artist recalls.
During the course of that jamboree, he bounced from concerts to workshops to master classes, before taking part in a collaborative performance of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, directed by the celebrated American conductor Leonard Slatkin.
Lee was invited to play alongside the principal cellist of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra before an audience of 5,000 people. It tripped an adrenaline switch that eventually put him back on track as a classical musician.
Cut to Hong Kong, and Lee's current enterprise, the Musicus Society: established in 2010 with a mission to introduce overseas artists to the city, it has already presented performances by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra from Finland and London's Philharmonia.