Korean (한글)
French
“Dr. Dongryul Lee’s works are alluring, sparkling, thoughtful, and carefully crafted. Each work has a unique concept, which he researches deeply and personalizes.”
Drawing inspiration from Borgesian poetics to number theory, Chicago-based composer Dongryul Lee[1] crafts music that entwines the acoustical nature of sound with clarity, pathos, and reinvented classical expressions. His background as a Korean immigrant, a composer with a computer science degree, and a thinker shaped by both Catholic and Buddhist traditions informs a musical language that bridges scientific inquiry and expressive depth. His longtime fascination with bells—deepened through his research assistantship for the McFarland Carillon in Urbana—led him to doctoral research in engineering campanology, culminating in a series of bell-inspired pieces including Le Tombeau de Harvey and TimeStory.
“The virtuosic microtonal exercise A finite island in the infinite ocean (2020). Given the title, passages sound like dense reefs of exotic corals. […] In an appealing illusion, the violinist created a faint echo effect, as if subtly enlarging the space.”
“Dr. Dongryul Lee’s works are alluring, sparkling, thoughtful, and carefully crafted. Each work has a unique concept, which he researches deeply and personalizes.”
– Augusta Read Thomas (Director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition)
Drawing inspiration from Borgesian poetics to number theory, Chicago-based composer Dongryul Lee[1] crafts music that entwines the acoustical nature of sound with clarity, pathos, and reinvented classical expressions. His background as a Korean immigrant, a composer with a computer science degree, and a thinker shaped by both Catholic and Buddhist traditions informs a musical language that bridges scientific inquiry and expressive depth. His longtime fascination with bells—deepened through his research assistantship for the McFarland Carillon in Urbana—led him to doctoral research in engineering campanology, culminating in a series of bell-inspired pieces including Le Tombeau de Harvey and TimeStory.
“The virtuosic microtonal exercise A finite island in the infinite ocean (2020). Given the title, passages sound like dense reefs of exotic corals. […] In an appealing illusion, the violinist created a faint echo effect, as if subtly enlarging the space.”
– THE STRAD (Bruce Hodges) on A finite island in the infinite ocean
Highlights of recent seasons include the premiere of Missa Laudato Si’, an hour-long choral-sinfonietta work inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical on ecology. Commissioned by the EcoVoice Project, it was premiered at Loyola University Chicago in March 2025, conducted by Kirsten Hedegaard and featuring Chungho Lee as piano soloist. Recent works also include The Ci(r)cadian Tree (2025), commissioned by Benjamin Sung and David Kalhous for their Extension Project, with premieres at Florida State University and in Chicago and Urbana;
Mu-ak: Soul Unbinding (2026), premiered by Ensemble .thrum at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest 2026 in Incheon, with subsequent performances at the National Flute Association Annual Convention in Portland and the University of Virginia’s Faculty Artist Series; Autumnal Equinox (2025) for violin, cello, and piano, commissioned by the Illini Piano Trio and premiered at Purugio Hall in Seoul; Lessons on Light and Darkness, presented in a revised version by Ensemble TIMF at Ilshin Hall in Seoul (2026);
Le Tombeau de Harvey (2022) and the deep-learning-based On a Winter’s Night a Traveller (2024), both premiered at the New England Conservatory by pianist Ariel Mo, a long-standing collaborator.
Earlier major works include the bell-inspired TimeStory (2021), performed by the Grossman Ensemble at the Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, based on his dissertation A Thousand Carillons, research from which was presented at the IRCAM Forum Workshop (2021) and the TIMBRE 2026 Conference in Montréal; A finite island in the infinite ocean, premiered by Miranda Cuckson at the Fromm Players Concerts at Harvard (2021); and Unending Rose (2020), performed in Berlin by the Kairos Quartett with support from the Theodore Presser Foundation, Arts Council Korea, and Kultur Büro Elisabeth Berlin.
Earlier major works include the bell-inspired TimeStory (2021), performed by the Grossman Ensemble at the Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, based on his dissertation A Thousand Carillons, research from which was presented at the IRCAM Forum Workshop (2021) and the TIMBRE 2026 Conference in Montréal; A finite island in the infinite ocean, premiered by Miranda Cuckson at the Fromm Players Concerts at Harvard (2021); and Unending Rose (2020), performed in Berlin by the Kairos Quartett with support from the Theodore Presser Foundation, Arts Council Korea, and Kultur Büro Elisabeth Berlin.
“Positively apocalyptic. Quotations of the Dies Irae mingle with Buddhist chant to dispel any notion of a silver lining.”
– Landon Hegedus (Chicago Classical Review), On Missa Laudato Si’
His works have been performed by distinguished ensembles including the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Kairos Quartett, Ensemble TIMF, Taukay Ensemble, the Jupiter String Quartet, the Mivos Quartet, Callithumpian Consort, Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa, S.E.M. Ensemble, Conference Ensemble, Ensemble Paramirabo, Cello Loft, the Illini Piano Trio, Illinois Modern Ensemble, and Chicago-based ensembles Grossman Ensemble, Dal Niente, New Earth Ensemble, and Axiom Brass. Lee has collaborated with celebrated soloists including Miranda Cuckson, Ariel Mo, Benjamin Sung, David Kalhous, Chungho Lee (이충호), Dahyun Chung (정다현), Eugenia Jeong, Matt Oliphant, Hannah Collins, Balázs Kálvin, Amber Evans, Nicolee Kuester, Laura Liu, Hanqian Zhu, Tomoko Ono, Brendan White, and Chukyung Park (박주경).
He has also worked with conductors including Vimbayi Kaziboni, James Baker, Jeffrey Means, Jerry Hou, Kirsten Hedegaard, and others across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. His music has been presented at prestigious venues including Jordan Hall and Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory, the Logan Center for the Arts, the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, Harpa Concert Hall, Villa Elisabeth, Ilshin Hall, and Krannert Center, as well as through presenters and series including UChicago Presents and the Fromm Players Concerts at Harvard University.
“Lee is exploring a complex net of tunings that foreground unfamiliar kinds of consonances between notes of the solo violin. [...] but Lee raises the ante by allowing considerably more complex sonic relationships to emerge. The result is a piece which sounds entirely fresh yet somehow natural in its unfolding.”
– Robert Hasegawa, editor of The Oxford Handbook of Orchestration Studies, On A finite island in the infinite ocean
Lee was the 2020–21 CCCC Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition. He first earned a BS in computer science and industrial systems engineering from Yonsei University and worked as a software engineer[5] before turning to music full-time. He studied music and practiced piano privately for five years in preparation for formal study[6], later earning his BM in composition at the Eastman School of Music. He has studied composition with Jukka Tiensuu, Reynold Tharp, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Erin Gee, Taehoon Kim, and others; algorithmic composition with Heinrich Taube; conducting with Brad Lubman and Mark Davis Scatterday; and piano with Tony Caramia, Ji Yun Lee, and Yoon Jeong Kim[7]. A dedicated teacher, Lee is Assistant Professor of Music at Loyola University Chicago, where he coordinates Theory and Composition. He has also taught at the University of Chicago, North Central College, Harper College, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his MM and DMA degrees.
“… including sections of the Pope’s letter, a list of endangered species, and a poem by the Korean Zen poet Shiva Ryu. Lee weaves these texts together to help people reflect on climate change.”
– Yale Climage Connections (Sarah Kennedy) on Missa Laudato Si’
Artistic Statement
I am a composer who seeks to write music that is both bodily and spiritual, intuitive and structured. I aim to reconcile and sublimate these tensions not through stylistic eclecticism, but through clarity of expression and depth of process. I conduct research in search of what I cannot yet imagine, so that imagination itself may move toward new terrain.
I am a composer who seeks to write music that is both bodily and spiritual, intuitive and structured. I aim to reconcile and sublimate these tensions not through stylistic eclecticism, but through clarity of expression and depth of process. I conduct research in search of what I cannot yet imagine, so that imagination itself may move toward new terrain.
2. Adjudicated by the jury: Thomas Adès (chair), Unsuk Chin, Chaya Czernowin, Gyula Fekete.
3. Adjudicated by the jury: Michele Biasutti (President), Edmund Campion, Juraj Ďuriš, Harald Muenz, Roberta Silvestrini
4. Adjudicated by the jury: Ivan Fedele (President), Gerhard Stabler, Clotilde Rosa, João Madureira, Pedro Figueiredo, Jaime Reis, and Jorge Sá Machado
5. At Zinopix (2002-04) and NCSoft (2004-06).
6. Before coming to the U.S. in 2008, Lee studied music privately, piano with Yoon Jeong Kim (2003-04), Ji Yun Lee (2006-07); piano and music theory with Hee Yeon Chin (2004-06); counterpoint and composition with Tae-hoon Kim (2006-07); aural skills with Nam Hui Lee (2005), and attended music courses at Yonsei University–Tonal Harmony I (2000) and II (2007), Orchestration, 16th Century Counterpoint, and Conducting Technique (all 2007).
7. He has also participated in composition residencies with Christopher Theofanidis, Chaya Czernowin, Jennifer Higdon, Julian Anderson, Mario Davidovsky, and Joshua Fineberg.
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