Stephen Lee is a Hong Kong native who grew up in Seattle, Washington, USA. He began flute at age 14 and held numerous awards from his high school years along with live-performances at the KING FM classical radio station in Seattle. Stephen became the recipient of scholarships to study at the University of Washington with world-renowned wooden flute expert, Felix Skowronek. He received his Bachelor Degree in Flute Performance in the year 2000, and he received his Trinity Guildhall LTCL Flute Recital Diploma in 2010.
After his relocation in 2007, Stephen has been teaching and performing full time in Hong Kong. He is the principal flutist of the Hong Kong Symphonia and the Gustav Mahler Orchestra. He frequently collaborates with different chamber music ensembles as well. Besides classical music, Stephen’s pop music collaborations include “Anita Mui 10th Anniversary Concert” in 2014; concerts with a Vancouver-based rock band, “BearWithUs”; as well as Hong Kong TV drama’s original soundtrack recordings include “Every Step You Take”, “The No No Girl”, and “Heart and Greed 3”.
Stephen founded two chamber music groups to promote the two genres that he loves to the Hong Kong audience - flute choir and contemporary music. He is the founder, artistic director, and chief conductor of a flute choir, “Hong Kong Chamber Flutes”. He also teamed up with pianist, Christine Cheng, to form the first contemporary music duo in Hong Kong, “Project M0Ch3”.
As a composer, Stephen composed both Cantopop and Classical music. He composed and arranged music for solo flute with piano, flute ensembles, and flute choir. Stephen was one of the finalists in the Flute View’s Contest for Composers 2015, and his flute trio, “Tango for Three”, received its World Premiere by the Flute View Trio. In 2017, Stephen was the assistant music director and music arranger for a Hong Kong original musical drama, “Mencius Sings Around The World”.
Introducing Hong Kong flute students to the flute culture from the western world is one of Stephen’s goals. To know the World is the see the World, so he led his students to attend the National Flute Association Convention in the US every two years for the past eight years.
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