Lee Pui Ming

by Joslyn Layne Toronto-based pianist and modern composer Lee Pui Ming has been an active participant in North American new music since the early '90s, leading her own ensemble, composing for film, and collaborating with a number of respected musicians. Her own compositions blend modern classical, jazz, traditional Chinese music, and even improvisation. Lee Pui Ming also frequently incorporates her voice and extended piano techniques (using the body and strings) into her dynamic live performances. Ming was born in 1956 in Hong Kong and has extensive training in Western classical piano. She leads an ensemble which has toured Asia and Canada and recorded an album, Nine-Fold Heart (Pochee), which was nominated for a Best Global Recording Juno award in the mid-'90s. Ming has other albums on the Pochee label, including her first release Ming (1991) and Taklamakan (1999) and has a release, Strange Beauty -- New Music for Piano, on the Dorian label. Lee Pui Ming has composed for several films and for the Canadian production The Yoko Ono Project, a multimedia show about the artist, her works, and public image. In the late '90s Ming performed in a series of improvised duets with Montreal new music figures René Lussier, Jean Derome, and Pierre Tanguay. She has performed at several new music festivals and has collaborated with improvisers such as Joelle Leandre, Otomo Yoshihide, and Chris Cutler.