Thomas Oboe Lee

Thomas Oboe Lee (born September 5, 1945) is a Chinese-American composer.

Early life and education Lee was born in Beijing, China, on September 5, 1945. His family left China in 1949, lived in Hong Kong, and later relocated to São Paulo, Brazil, before Lee emigrated to the United States in 1966.

Lee began his musical education in Brazil and performed as a jazz flutist with musicians such as Chico Buarque. The group organized contemporary music concerts in the Boston-Cambridge area and released a collaborative LP in 1984.

Lee's catalog includes more than 270 works, including 10 symphonies, 15 concerti, 23 string quartets, and the two-act opera The Inman Diaries. His 1982 piece Third String Quartet ... child of Uranus, father of Zeus won First Prize at the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards.

He received two Guggenheim Fellowships (1983, 1986), two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and two Massachusetts Artists Foundation Fellowships. In 1985, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters awarded him the Charles Ives Fellowship.

Recordings Thomas Oboe Lee String Quartets – performed by the Hawthorne String Quartet. Label: Koch International 3-7452-2-III Thomas Oboe Lee The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards – performed by the Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo. Label: Arsis Audio CD 148 Thomas Oboe Lee Six Concertos – performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Label: BMOP/sound 1025