Catherine Lee
Instructor
Oboe
Considered a “new breed of instrumental specialist,” (New Music Buff) Dr. Catherine Lee offers “immaculate, masterful oboe playing” (The Double Reed) in combination with inspired and discerning musicality across an impressive range of genres and styles. In addition to her classical, contemporary, interdisciplinary collaborations, and free improvisation performance, Lee regularly commissions evocative new music that showcases her “deep understanding of the expressive possibilities of her instruments in both traditional and extended techniques.” (New Music Buff) Lee also creates music, textile, video and photography pieces inspired by, and in collaboration with Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkmoth, creatively illuminating the life stages and silk cocoons of these amazing creatures.
With a Juno Award nomination for Classical Album of the Year (solo artist), Lee’s second solo album, Remote Together (2021 – Redshift), received unanimously positive reviews from an international array of media. A musical exploration of metamorphosis, Remote Together takes the listener on a compelling, evolutionary journey responsive to pandemic culture. Lee’s first solo album, social sounds (2013, Teal Creek Music) featured works by Canadian composers and also received wide acclaim, being “a CD as compelling as it is eminently listenable.” (The WholeNote) A founding member of the Lee+Hannafin Duo alongside Matt Hannafin, Lee is also part of the Re:Soundings trio which performed Roscoe Mitchell’s seminal work Nonaah at the Park Ave Armory (NYC, 2019) and whose recording of the piece is available on “Roscoe Mitchell and Ostravaska Banda” (WideHive Records, 2020). A former member of Orchestre Symphonique de Longueuil, Catherine has also appeared with the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestra, Portland Opera Orchestra, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal among others. A well known researcher and dedicated teacher, Lee is on faculty at Willamette University and holds a Doctor of Music in Oboe Performance from McGill University (Montreal, Quebec), and certification from the Deep Listening Institute (New York).