Hailed as a “miracle” by Gramophone, Trey Lee was praised by BBC Music Magazine for his “exquisite delivery” and “intoxicating intimacy” in his global released album with English Chamber Orchestra, Seasons Interrupted. The late Lorin Maazel praised him as “a marvelous protagonist…a superb cellist” after conducting Trey with the Philharmonia Orchestra. His debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage won him a standing ovation, with New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini declaring him “the excellent cellist…with enveloping richness and lyrical sensitivity”.
Trey appears at major venues worldwide, most recently at the Beijing National Centre for Performing Arts, London’s Cadogan Hall, Milan’s Duomo, Paris’s Salle Gaveau, Vienna’s Golden Hall Musikverein, Warsaw’s La Folle Journée, amongst others. He has collaborated with many conductors and orchestras, such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Bashmet, Miko Frank, Hannu Lintu, Lu Jia, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Vassily Sinaisky, Leonard Slatkin, Dima Slobodeniouk, Yan Huichang; the Philharmonics of BBC, Hong Kong, Netherlands and Radio France, Detroit Symphony, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, the Moscow Soloists, Sinfonia Varsovia, the chamber orchestras of Mantua, Munich, Romanian Radio, La Scala and Stuttgart.
As a multi-faceted artist, Trey has re-arranged works to critical acclaim, such as Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (debuted with the Trondheim Soloists) and Wang Liping’s The Dream of the Red Chamber Capriccio (premiered with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.) Trey has given world premieres of Bright Sheng’s The Blazing Mirage and Finnish composer Kirmo Lintinen’s Cello Concerto, both of which were dedicated to Trey.
Trey was the first Asian to win First Prize at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition. He has been featured by CCTV, the Financial Times, CNN and Deutsche Welle. As an ambassador of UNICEF Hong Kong, he shared the stage with Yoko Ono and Hugh Jackman at the UN General Assembly Hall to launch The IMAGINE Project.
