Artist Bio

Hailed as a “miracle” by Gramophone, Trey Lee enthralls audiences with a virtuosity that combines intellectual sophistication and a profound depth of emotions. His concerto debut at the Carnegie Hall Stern’s Auditorium/Perelman Stage won him a standing ovation, with the New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini declaring him “the excellent cellist…with enveloping richness and lyrical sensitivity.” The late Lorin Maazel praised him “a marvelous protagonist…a superb cellist” after conducting Trey in Haydn’s C Major Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra. In his performance with the Netherlands Philharmonic at the Royal Concertgebouw Hall, Trey was acclaimed by the critics as a “star musician.”

Trey appears often at major venues around the world, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, Cadogan Hall in London, Teatro dal Verme and the Duomo in Milan, Lincoln Center in New York, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, Golden Hall Musikverein in Vienna, amongst others. He performs at numerous festivals, such as Banff Summer Arts Festival, La Folle Journée (Warsaw), Marlboro, and the chamber music festivals of Australia, Kuhmo and Seoul Spring.

Trey has worked with notable musicians and orchestras, including conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Bashmet, Mikko Franck, Hannu Lintu, Lu Jia, Juanjo Mena, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Vassily Sinaisky and Dima Slobodeniouk; the philharmonics of BBC, Radio France, Hong Kong, Bohuslav Martinů and Netherlands; the chamber orchestras of London, Mantua, Munich, Romanian Radio and Stuttgart. Others include the English Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Soloists, Camerata Salzburg, Cameristi della Scala, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Trondheim Soloists and Sinfonia Varsovia. Being a versatile musician, Trey has collaborated in chamber music with Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto, Louis Lortie, Alexander Sitkovetsky and the Borodin Quartet. He is currently a member of the award-winning piano quartet Ensemble Made in Canada.

Seeking to increase the expressive possibilities of the cello while also attracting new audiences, Trey has re-arranged works which have been eagerly received by audiences around the world. He debuted his arrangement of Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with the Trondheim Soloists on a Norwegian tour. The Dream of the Red Chamber Capriccio, co-rearranged by Trey, was premiered with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on their inaugural tour of China. Trey has given world premieres of Bright Sheng’s The Blazing Mirage and Finnish composer Kirmo Lintinen Cello Concerto, both dedicated to him.

A laureate of major international competitions, including First Prize at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition, and major prizes at New York’s Naumburg and Helsinki’s Paulo international competitions, Trey has released several albums under EMI which topped the classical charts. He is also the featured soloist on the original EMI-released soundtrack recording for the Sundance Festival featured film The Drummer. His other albums include Bright Sheng’s The Blazing Mirage under Naxos, The Dream of Red Chamber Capriccio under composer Wang Liping. Seasons Interrupted, his 2024 album released by Signum, met with critical acclaim with BBC Music Magazine describing his performance “an exquisite delivery of the melody” with “an intoxicating intimacy.”

Trey has been featured by the Financial Times, China’s CCTV, CNN, Deutsche Welle in a recorded recital, and in Radio Television Hong Kong’s award-winning documentary series “Outstanding Young Chinese Musicians”. Italy’s Il Corriere Della Sera heralded Lee as one of China’s classical music “Golden Boys & Girls” alongside pianists Lang Lang and Yuja Wang. He is often invited as a featured artist at major events around the world, such as the launch of The IMAGINE Project with Yoko Ono, Hugh Jackman and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the UN General Assembly Hall. Other inspiring projects Trey has undertaken include performances at the indigenous First Nation communities of northern Canada, and a fundraising concert for antiapartheid hero Denis Goldberg and his House of Hope Foundation in South Africa. He is the founding artistic director of Musicus Society, Musicus Fest and Musicus Soloists Hong Kong with the aim to promote cross-cultural collaboration of music internationally.

Trey attended Juilliard’s Pre-College Division, Harvard University where he received his Bachelor’s in Economics, the New England Conservatory, Madrid’s Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia and Cologne Musikhochschule under the tutelage of Frans Helmerson, Laurence Lesser, Bernard Greenhouse and Ardyth Alton. Since 2012, Trey has been an ambassador of UNICEF Hong Kong.

Trey was born in Hong Kong and currently based in Berlin. He plays on the 1703 “Comte de Gabriac” cello by Venetian master maker Matteo Goffriller.

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