Cellist Kett Chuan Lee was the youngest member of the National Symphony Orchestra (OSK) and Radio Television Orchestra (RTM) in Malaysia before coming to the US in 2003 to pursue higher education. Kett was a grant recipient of the Yayasan Seni Berdaftar (YSB) – a non-profit organization in Malaysia who sponsored him from 2004-2009. He has performed at elite concert halls in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines; collaborated with many local artists in Malaysia and recorded solo/chamber music work for Radio Television Hong Kong.
He holds performance diplomas from The Boston Conservatory and Longy School of Music, where he studied with Rhonda Rider and Mihail Jojatu. During the school years, he was the winner of numerous chamber music competition and was awarded projects for peace grant with the world music ensemble Muziko Monda. In 2017, Kett released his debut solo album – Beethoven and Franck Cello Sonatas with pianist Ai-Ying Chiu – click here to purchase the album.
Kett was the cellist of nationally acclaimed Boston String quartet (BSQ) and Voyage Piano Trio; he tours with the BSQ to prominent venues for concerts, and dozen of schools for education outreach program in Florida, Tennessee, Ohio and locally in Massachusetts. As an educator, he is the owner of Lee’s Music Studio and was on faculty at Noble and Greenough School, Dean College and Wayland/Wellesley/Brookline/Watertown Public Schools; as a soloist, he most recently performed Haydn Concerto in D with Salem Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with Sharon Community Chamber Orchestra and Waltham Philharmonic; other international solo appearance includes Muramatsu Hall in Osaka Japan, Shin-han arts hall in Seoul South Korea, Jaya One auditorium and No Black Tie in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. He was on the jury panel for Malaysian Youth Orchestra Foundation (MYOF) competition and Duxbury Music Festival.
As an orchestra player, Kett has played under the baton of Sergiu Comissiona, Okko Kamu, Edwin Outwater, Bruce Hangen, Yoichi Udagawa, Martin West, Bright Sheng, etc, he was the principal cellist of Cape Ann Symphony, Symphony Nova, Waltham Philharmonic and performs regularly with the Claflin Hill Symphony.
In musical theatre productions, he has worked under the artist directors of Richard Jenkins, Curt Columbus, Spiro Veloudos and music directors Michael Rice, Catherine Stornetta, Jonathan Goldberg, Charles Peltz; Kett is principal player in many award winning theatre: The Company Theater, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Lyric Stage (Into the Woods, IRNE Award best musical of the year 2015), Fiddlehead Theatre, Ocean State Theater, Gloucester Stage Company (Spring Awakening, IRNE award best musical of the year 2014) and etc.
As a versatile cellist, he has collaborated with Soundtrec (WGBH, click here for complete recording works), Semiosis Quartet, David Bixler, Kygo (TD Garden), DJ Premier (WGBH), Video Game Orchestra (Boston Symphony Hall), composition department at University of Florida/Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Bowling Green State Univesity/New England Conservatory/Boston University/Brandeis University and Boston Modern Arts Ensemble.
Music festivals he attended such as *Castleton Festival (accepted but did not attend), Festival Del Sole (1st chair), National Orchestral Institute (1st chair), Garth Newel Music Center, Canton International Summer Music Academy (International student representative), Asia Orchestra Week and Asian Youth Orchestra (1st chair). He has performed in masterclasses for Bernard Greenhouse, Lawrence Lesser, Paul Katz, Stephen Geber, Andre Diaz, Andrew Mark, Marc Johnson, Valérie Aimard, Brian Manker, Yumi Kendall and David Ying.