Singaporean violinist Gabriel Lee enjoys a multi-faceted career: he performs in diverse sound worlds with his baroque and modern violins, and builds new frontiers in the Southeast Asian musical landscape as a music educator and entrepreneur. His playing has been described as having a “breathtaking intensity, grabbing listeners by the lapels without letting go”, and “a passion and concentration that was hard to surpass” (The Straits Times).
Gabriel has performed solo recitals in the United States, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar, and has been featured as a soloist with the Baltimore Baroque Band, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Red Dot Baroque, Resound Collective, Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Music Makers, Malaysia Bach Festival, Jakarta Festival Orchestra, PSPA International Ensemble, Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra and the Peabody Conductor’s Orchestra. He is also sought after as an orchestral musician, having won a first violin position with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and freelanced professionally with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra and the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra.
As a baroque violinist, Gabriel has performed solo with Enrico Onofri and the Resound Collective, Baltimore Baroque Band, Red Dot Baroque, Malaysia Bach Festival and the Jakarta Festival Orchestra. He has also performed in the Wilmington Bach Festival, Amherst Early Music Festival, Music at St. Bartholomew’s series, and collaborated with UMBC’s Camerata Chamber Choir. He studied with Risa Browder and played in masterclasses with Lucy van Dael, Ryo Terakado, Julie Andrijeski and Emlyn Ngai.
Constantly seeking to innovate and incorporate technology in his teaching, Gabriel has published and presented research in the Australian and New Zealand Viola Society Journal, Australian Strings Association’s Stringendo Magazine, Juilliard Symposium, ABRSM Music Teacher Conference, Princess Galyani Vadhana International Symposium and the Performer’s Present International Artistic Research Symposium.
He is currently Managing Director of the SEA Music Academy Online, Adjunct Faculty at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the School of the Arts, Founder and Director of the Music Society of Myanmar and has conducted masterclasses and coached various ensembles in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. As a competition adjudicator, Gabriel has served on the jury of the Alessandro Giuliani Violin Competition, Euroasia Strings Competition, NAFA Concerto Competition, Singapore Music Teachers’ Association’s Le Petit Performers’ Festival and Asia Arts Festival. He is also a member of the ABRSM Music Education Advisory Committee and the Forte Product Council.
Gabriel has received various awards and scholarships, including the JC Van Hulsteyn Award in Violin and the Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence. He graduated with two Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance and Baroque Violin Performance from the Peabody Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music (Hons) degree from YSTCM as Valedictorian of his cohort.
Gabriel plays on a 1902 Degani on loan from the Rin Collection.