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Praised as “positively apocalyptic” (Chicago Classical Review), “sounding like dense reefs of exotic corals” (The Strad), and “alluring, sparkling, thoughtful, and carefully crafted” (Augusta Read Thomas), Chicago-based composer Dongryul Lee creates music that entwines the acoustical nature of sound with clarity, pathos, and reimagined classical expression. Drawing inspiration from spiritual, literary, and scientific sources—from Borgesian poetics and Jungian philosophy to number theory and artificial intelligence—his works reflect the multiplicity of his own identity: a Korean immigrant in the United States, a born Catholic and learned Buddhist thinker, and a composer with a computer science degree.

His music has been performed by distinguished ensembles such as the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Kairos Quartet, Taukay Ensemble, Jupiter String Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Grossman Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, GMCL Lisbon, S.E.M. Ensemble, Ensemble Paramirabo, New Earth Ensemble, and Axiom Brass, among others. He has collaborated with celebrated soloists and conductors including Miranda Cuckson, Ariel Mo, Benjamin Sung, David Kalhous, Chungho Lee, Vimbayi Kaziboni, James Baker, Jeffrey Means, Jerry Hou, Eugenia Jeong, Matt Oliphant, Hannah Collins, Balázs Kálvin, Amber Evans, Eric Moore, Nicolee Kuester, Sungmin Shin, Laura Liu, Hanqian Zhu, Tomoko Ono, Brendan White and Chukyung Park.

Lee’s fascination with bells has been a defining thread throughout his career. His doctoral research in engineering campanology, undertaken while administering the McFarland Carillon in Urbana, culminated in his dissertation A Thousand Carillons and inspired a series of bell-inspired compositions, including Le Tombeau de Harvey and TimeStory, performed by pianist Ariel Mo and the Grossman Ensemble respectively, and later presented at the IRCAM Forum Workshop in Montréal (2021).

Highlights of recent seasons include the premiere of Missa Laudato Si’ (2025), an hour-long choral-sinfonietta work inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical on ecology, commissioned by the EcoVoice Project and premiered at Loyola University Chicago. Other recent works include Ci(r)cadian Tree, commissioned by Benjamin Sung and David Kalhous, with premieres at Florida State University and in Chicago and Urbana; On a Winter’s Night a Traveller, a piano work based on AI-generated material, premiered at New England Conservatory by Ariel Mo; and Unending Rose, performed in Berlin by the Kairos Quartet with support from the Presser Foundation, Arts Council Korea, and Kultur Büro Elisabeth Berlin. His A finite island in the infinite ocean was premiered by Miranda Cuckson at the Fromm Players concert at Harvard.

Lee’s compositions have garnered numerous accolades, including prizes at the Bartók World Competition (Hungary), GMCL-Peixinho Competition (Portugal), Città di Udine Competition (Italy), and Busan Maru Competition (South Korea). He is a recipient of the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship and the Theodore Presser Foundation Award in Music, as well as honors from Eastman School of Music, the American Prize, and Chengdu Sun River Prize in China.

A dedicated teacher as well as composer, Lee is Assistant Professor of Music at Loyola University Chicago, where he coordinates Theory and Composition. He has also taught at the University of Chicago, North Central College, Harper College, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his MM and DMA degrees. His earlier studies include a BS in computer science and industrial systems engineering from Yonsei University, followed by years as a software engineer before pursuing music full-time. He has studied composition with Jukka Tiensuu, Heinrich Taube, Reynold Tharp, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and others, and participated in residencies with Chaya Czernowin, Jennifer Higdon, Julian Anderson, Mario Davidovsky, and Joshua Fineberg.

From the resonance of bells to the logic of multiphysics, Lee’s music explores the boundary between sound and idea. He invites listeners into sonic worlds that are at once intellectually searching and emotionally resonant—works of rigor, imagination, and sympathy shaped by a deeply personal yet universal voice.

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