Korean (한글로 보기)
French
Chicago based composer Dongryul Lee[1] crafts music that entwines the acoustical nature of sounds with clarity, pathos, and reinvented classical expressions. He finds inspirations in spiritual, literary, and scientific elements, encompassing a diverse range of topics from Borgesian poetics and Jungian Philosophy to Number Theory, and Artificial Intelligence. His dual identities—a Korean immigrant living in the States, a born Catholic and learned Buddhist thinker, and a composer with a computer science degree—also greatly influence his musical language. 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 (by Ariel Mo) and TimeStory (by the Grossman Ensemble.)
“Dr. Dongryul Lee’s works are alluring, sparkling, thoughtful, and carefully crafted. Each work has a unique concept, which he researches deeply and personalizes.”
Lee’s compositions have been performed by ensembles such as the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin-based Kairos Quartet, Città di Udine's Taukay Ensemble, the Jupiter String Quartet, the Mivos Quartet, Chicago's Grossman Ensemble, New Earth Ensemble and Axiom Brass, his long time collaborator–Boston's Callithumpian Consort, GMCL in Lisbon, the New York-based S.E.M. Ensemble, Conference Ensemble at the Composers Conference, the Montréal-based Ensemble Paramirabo, Cello Loft, and Illinois Modern Ensemble, among others. Dongryul has collaborated with a number of celebrated soloists and conductors including Miranda Cuckson, Ariel Mo, Benjamin Sung, David Kalhous, Chungho Lee (이충호), Vimbayi Kaziboni, James Baker, Jeffrey Means, Li-chin Li, Eugenia Jeong, Matt Oliphant, Hannah Collins, Balázs Kálvin, Amber Evans, Eric Moore, Nicolee Kuester, Sungmin Shin, Laura Liu, Hanqian Zhu, Tomoko Ono, and Chukyung Park (박주경). He was awarded the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship, which supported his study with Jukka Tiensuu (2020); the third prize in the first Bartók World Competition (Hungary, 2018)[2]; the Special Prize Piero Pezzé in the Composition Competition Città di Udine (Italy, 2018)[3]; Second Prize in the 3rd GMCL Competition (Portugal, 2017)[4]; and Second Prize in 2017 Busan Maru Competition (South Korea).
“Positively apocalyptic. Quotations of the Dies Irae mingle with Buddhist chant to dispel any notion of a silver lining.”
His recent performances include Missa Laudato Si’, an hour-long choral-orchestral work inspired by the message of integral ecology in Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’. Commissioned by the EcoVoice Project, the piece was premiered at Loyola University Chicago in March 2025, conducted by Kirsten Hedegaard and featuring Chungho Lee as piano soloist. His Ci(r)cadian Tree was commissioned by Benjamin Sung and David Kalhous for their Extension Project; a portion was premiered at Florida State University in March 2025, with the full premiere scheduled for October 2025 in Chicago. His Le Tombeau de Harvey (2022) and deep learning based work On a Winter’s Night a Traveller (2024) were premiered at Jordan Hall and Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory, respectively, featuring Ariel Mo, a long-standing collaborator. The performance of his Unending Rose in Berlin in October 2020 by the Kairos Quartett was supported by the Theodore Presser Foundation, Arts Council Korea, and Kultur Büro Elisabeth Berlin, and his A finite island in the infinite ocean was premiered at the Fromm Players Concerts at Harvard by Miranda Cuckson in April 2021.
Lee began writing music with the computer when he was 13. After probing all kinds of music for 10 years while leading college rock bands, analyzing Bach and Final Fantasy, and writing self-invented atonal music, Dongryul finally came to the US in 2008 to study at the Eastman School (BM) as a 29 year old freshman. Prior to this embarkation, he studied music and practiced piano privately for five years[5] while working as software engineer[6], after earning a degree in computer science and industrial system engineering (BS) from Yonsei University. He completed his MM and DMA degrees in composition-theory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he administered the McFarland Carillon. Lee was the 2020-21 CCCC Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition, and taught at North Central College, Harper College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Lee is an assistant professor of music at Loyola University Chicago, where he serves as the coordinator of Theory and Composition.
“Liquid, sculptural, expansive, resplendent; a playing/listening experience that feels like peeling back the layers of the piano to find new resonances, release some ancient voice that's always been part of it but new to our ears."
1. Korean: 이동렬 [iː doŋ ɾjəɾ]; pronouns: he/him.
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. Before coming to the US in 2008, Lee studied music privately, piano with Yoon Jeong Kim (2003-2004), Ji Yun Lee (2006-2007); piano and music theory with Hee Yeon Chin (2004-2006); counterpoint and composition with Tae-hoon Kim (2006-2007); 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, Conducting Technique (all 2007), et al.
6. At Zinopix (2002-04) and NCSoft (2004-06).
Other photo(s)
![]()
High resolution photo 1 High resolution photo 2 High resolution photo 3
Chicago based composer Dongryul Lee[1] crafts music that entwines the acoustical nature of sounds with clarity, pathos, and reinvented classical expressions. He finds inspirations in spiritual, literary, and scientific elements, encompassing a diverse range of topics from Borgesian poetics and Jungian Philosophy to Number Theory, and Artificial Intelligence. His dual identities—a Korean immigrant living in the States, a born Catholic and learned Buddhist thinker, and a composer with a computer science degree—also greatly influence his musical language. 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 (by Ariel Mo) and TimeStory (by the Grossman Ensemble.)
“Dr. Dongryul Lee’s works are alluring, sparkling, thoughtful, and carefully crafted. Each work has a unique concept, which he researches deeply and personalizes.”
Lee’s compositions have been performed by ensembles such as the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin-based Kairos Quartet, Città di Udine's Taukay Ensemble, the Jupiter String Quartet, the Mivos Quartet, Chicago's Grossman Ensemble, New Earth Ensemble and Axiom Brass, his long time collaborator–Boston's Callithumpian Consort, GMCL in Lisbon, the New York-based S.E.M. Ensemble, Conference Ensemble at the Composers Conference, the Montréal-based Ensemble Paramirabo, Cello Loft, and Illinois Modern Ensemble, among others. Dongryul has collaborated with a number of celebrated soloists and conductors including Miranda Cuckson, Ariel Mo, Benjamin Sung, David Kalhous, Chungho Lee (이충호), Vimbayi Kaziboni, James Baker, Jeffrey Means, Li-chin Li, Eugenia Jeong, Matt Oliphant, Hannah Collins, Balázs Kálvin, Amber Evans, Eric Moore, Nicolee Kuester, Sungmin Shin, Laura Liu, Hanqian Zhu, Tomoko Ono, and Chukyung Park (박주경). He was awarded the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship, which supported his study with Jukka Tiensuu (2020); the third prize in the first Bartók World Competition (Hungary, 2018)[2]; the Special Prize Piero Pezzé in the Composition Competition Città di Udine (Italy, 2018)[3]; Second Prize in the 3rd GMCL Competition (Portugal, 2017)[4]; and Second Prize in 2017 Busan Maru Competition (South Korea).
“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 recent performances include Missa Laudato Si’, an hour-long choral-orchestral work inspired by the message of integral ecology in Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’. Commissioned by the EcoVoice Project, the piece was premiered at Loyola University Chicago in March 2025, conducted by Kirsten Hedegaard and featuring Chungho Lee as piano soloist. His Ci(r)cadian Tree was commissioned by Benjamin Sung and David Kalhous for their Extension Project; a portion was premiered at Florida State University in March 2025, with the full premiere scheduled for October 2025 in Chicago. His Le Tombeau de Harvey (2022) and deep learning based work On a Winter’s Night a Traveller (2024) were premiered at Jordan Hall and Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory, respectively, featuring Ariel Mo, a long-standing collaborator. The performance of his Unending Rose in Berlin in October 2020 by the Kairos Quartett was supported by the Theodore Presser Foundation, Arts Council Korea, and Kultur Büro Elisabeth Berlin, and his A finite island in the infinite ocean was premiered at the Fromm Players Concerts at Harvard by Miranda Cuckson in April 2021.
“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
Lee began writing music with the computer when he was 13. After probing all kinds of music for 10 years while leading college rock bands, analyzing Bach and Final Fantasy, and writing self-invented atonal music, Dongryul finally came to the US in 2008 to study at the Eastman School (BM) as a 29 year old freshman. Prior to this embarkation, he studied music and practiced piano privately for five years[5] while working as software engineer[6], after earning a degree in computer science and industrial system engineering (BS) from Yonsei University. He completed his MM and DMA degrees in composition-theory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he administered the McFarland Carillon. Lee was the 2020-21 CCCC Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition, and taught at North Central College, Harper College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Lee is an assistant professor of music at Loyola University Chicago, where he serves as the coordinator of Theory and Composition.
“Liquid, sculptural, expansive, resplendent; a playing/listening experience that feels like peeling back the layers of the piano to find new resonances, release some ancient voice that's always been part of it but new to our ears."
– Arie Mo, pianist, on Le Tombeau de Harvey
He studied composition with Jukka Tiensuu, Reynold Tharp, Heinrich Taube, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Erin Gee, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, David Liptak, and Tae-hoon Kim, and conducting with Brad Lubman and Mark Davis Scatterday, and piano with Tony Caramia, Ji Yun Lee, and Yoon Jeong Kim. Additionally, he studied at composition residencies with Chaya Czernowin (SICPP 2021), Jennifer Higdon (ACA 2020), Jukka Tiensuu (Sävellyspaja 2018), Julian Anderson (SICPP 2018), Mario Davidovsky (Composers Conference 2017), and Joshua Fineberg (Domaine Forget 2017). He also studied rock vocal techniques in 1999 with Myungki Kim, a renowned Korean underground heavy-metal vocalist.
“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
On A finite island in the infinite ocean
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. Before coming to the US in 2008, Lee studied music privately, piano with Yoon Jeong Kim (2003-2004), Ji Yun Lee (2006-2007); piano and music theory with Hee Yeon Chin (2004-2006); counterpoint and composition with Tae-hoon Kim (2006-2007); 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, Conducting Technique (all 2007), et al.
6. At Zinopix (2002-04) and NCSoft (2004-06).
Other photo(s)
High resolution photo 1 High resolution photo 2 High resolution photo 3
