Dr Lee Chie Tsang Isaiah, Artistic Director
Chie Tsang LEE is a Malaysian composer who is greatly influenced by his cultural/educational background. His music evokes the notion of energy as flowing movement and significant colour, bringing together Asian performance aesthetics, western contemporary classical approaches as well as aspects of indigenous East-Malaysian (Kadazandusun) ritual forms. His current work is concerned with exploring and re-framing interdisciplinary perspectives related to hybrid oral traditions found in East Malaysia to provoke new possibilities for sounds, spaces and creativity in his compositional work.
Chie Tsang received his diploma in music from the SEGi College at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he studied music composition with Tan Chin Ho. In 2008, he completed his Bachelor of Music at the University of Western Australia under the supervision of Professor Roger Smalley, Yitzhak Yedid and Dr Christopher Tonkin. He has participated in international events including Forme Uniche della Continuita nello Spazio International Composition’ (Australia), Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival (Malaysia), Yogyakarta Contemporary Music Festival (Indonesia), Beethoven Club Composition Contest and workshop (United States), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (U. K).
Chie Tsang has received awards and commissions, including the 2nd prize of the Beethoven Club Composition Contest 2008 (United States), 2nd prize of the Sibelius Composer Awards 2008 in Sydney, Australia. He was one of the finalists of the Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival (KLCMF), Forme Uniche della Continuita nello Spazio International Composition Competition (Melbourne), one of the winners for Chamber music in the TMC International Composition Competition 2011 (Taiwan) as well as in Free Hand Festival 2019 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He has actively collaborated with performers and ensembles including Jean Penny, Peter Veale, Adam Bowles, Dirk Amrein, Jürg Hennegerge, Bridget Carey, Chong Kee Xin Anna, Timothy O’Dwyer Ensemble Mosaik, Studio Musikfabrik, Discord Workshop, Sirius Quartet, Ensemble Offspring, Atlas Ensemble, Quartet Bozzini. His music has been performed in the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Albania.
He received a full scholarship from Goethe Institute to participate at the ‘Darmstadt International Summer Course 2010’ in 2009, receiving instruction from Brian Ferneyhough, Liza Lim, and Manos Tsangaris. In 2011, He received a full scholarship sponsored by The Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education and completed his Master of Arts by research (with distinction) in 2012 and PhD in music composition under supervision by Professor Dr. Liza Lim (main supervisor), Dr Bryn Harrison (co-supervisor), and Professor Dr. Aaron Cassidy (co-supervisor) at the Centre for Research in New Music (CeReNeM) in Huddersfield in 2018.
Chie Tsang has been pointed as a senior lecturer acting as the head of the music programme at the Academy of Arts and Creative Technology (ACT), Universiti Malayasia Sabah. Also, he is the committee member of the Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers (SMCC).