Chee Yean graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington in the USA, where he was under the tutelage of Mr Emile Naoumoff, who himself was a student of the great pedagogue Nadia Boulanger.
As a performer, Chee Yean has collaborated with some very fine musicians from the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in their Chamber Music Series, both as a pianist and a harpsichordist. His solo repertoire includes some of the most challenging repertoire of the 19th century such as the Liszt and the Chopin B minor Sonatas. He also frequently works with instrumentalists and singers alike, notably, with the internationally renowned clarinettist Ronald van Spandonck during his concert tour to Malaysia. In 2013, a live recording of Chee Yean’s performance of Mozart’s 25th Piano Concerto in collaboration with High Winds Ensemble in Yogjakarta was issued by Arts Music Today in Indonesia.
As a composer, though never been formally trained, two of his orchestral works, Six Sketches and Triptych, were performed by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. Five of his songs for voice and piano published by Chin Yong Music Society have received their premieres in Malaysia, Singapore, China and the U.K. On Huygen’s Aria, commissioned by Joost Flach for High Winds Ensemble was published in Germany by Floricor Edition in 2010. He also arranges music for the wind ensemble on numerous occasions, one of which is the arrangement of Mozart 25th Piano Concerto with himself as the soloist, performed at the Georgetown Festival of Penang in 2011 and at the International Chamber Music Festival of Yogjakarta in 2013.
Chee Yean is currently a teaching fellow with the Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Publisher: Self-published | contact
Original Works for Wind
Five Songs for wind octet (2012/2015) 18′ | watch
- In the Forest – Oscar Wilde
- Wild Nights! – Emily Dickinson
- We Two Boys Together Clinging – Walt Whitman
- To Daffodils – Robert Herrick
- When We Two Parted – Lord Byron
Arrangements for Wind
Allegro for 4 String Quartets by Johannes van Bree arranged for 4 flutes, 2 oboes, english horn, bassoon, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, and SATB saxophones (2019) 12′
Petite Trio – A short medley on Zubir Said’s (Kata Berlawan and Semoga Bahagia) (2019) 4′
Rasa Sayang for 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, double bass and percussion (2020)