Instrumentalist, Composer
Shelly is a clarinettist and composer based in London. She attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's BMus course (2020-2022), where she focused on clarinet performance as her first study and composition as her second. During her time there, she studied clarinet with Andrew Webster, bass clarinet with Robert Ault, and composition with Steve Potter. She also participated in coaching sessions with Joy Farrall, Benjamin Mellefant and Ausias Garrigos Morant.
In 2024, Shelly transferred to Goldsmiths, University of London, to pursue a more well-rounded music education. There, she continued her clarinet studies with Heather Roche and Pete Furniss. Prior to her time in London, she studied with clarinettist Linus Fung in Hong Kong.
Shelly's clarinet journey began in her early years with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of Hong Kong (MYOHK). In 2018, she was invited by the Hong Kong Tourism Board to perform in London. She performed as the principal clarinettist, playing Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and Shostakovich's Golden Age Suite at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 2019.
Her compositions have been played at venues such as the Royal Academy of Music (Susie Sainsbury Theatre), King's College London (Greenwood Theatre), Deptford Town Hall, George Wood Theatre, and Keynes Hall at Kings College Cambridge.
Aside from clarinet and composing, she also plays cello and piano to an intermediate level.
March, 2023
Trio Erotica Miniatures
As Composer and clarinettist
Inspired by Tomas' description of a mistress as 'an odd combination of giraffe, stork, and sensitive young boy' in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I composed three miniature pieces with an overarching 'erotic' theme. These pieces also explore a projection of what are often associated with humans' hedonistic behaviour onto a few animals. The first movement features growls and glisses on the clarinet, imitating the imagined vocal lines of a seductive tiger. The second movement draws inspiration from the BBC's Spy in the Wild series, particularly a segment where lemurs use millipedes as insecticide and become intoxicated. The third movement portrays the chaotic beauty of the annual nuptial flight of ants during their reproductive process. The piece is written for clarinet, violin and piano.
Shelly Lee (Clarinet) Sophia Kannathasan (Violin) Spencer Boya (Piano)
January 2023
12
As Composer
12 is a piece compiled of 12 miniature pieces of music written by young composers across London conservatoires, performed in the Susie Sainsbury's theatre in Royal Academy of Music.
My miniature piece is from 14:06-16:31 from the attached performance.
Someone the Musical (Preview)
As Music Director and Co-Composer
This story of SOMEONE the musical is a tale of Love and Grief and centers around Evelyn balancing her cafe responsibilities and her desire to find herself in further education. Her love for her community inspires her to invite four other strangers: Gabi, Richard, Imogen, and Finn to take part in a theatre and wellbeing workshop. What was first an idea to request volunteers for her applied theatre assignment becomes an opportunity to help the lives of people that needed the space to work through their own grief. As they make great progress on their personal development, embracing their courageous new 'self', their lives take a sudden halt when the rising global pandemic arrives on their doorstep.
March 2023
October 2022
Gabrielle the musical
As co-comp0ser, clarinettist in 1st and 3rd show
A biographical musical theatre show about Gabrielle Chanel, better known as Coco Chanel. We had 3 sold out concerts in Greenwood Theatre and George Wood Theatre, and was featured on China daily and Shenzen Daily
Gabrielle - Live Recordings
Co-Composed with Spencer Boya
On Another Note
As Co-Composer and Clarinettist
After quitting his dead-end job, 24-year-old Nathan is driving back to his hometown to work for his parents. Those plans change when his car suddenly breaks down in smoke. A man pulls over to help, but it's none other than Nathan's dreaded high school music teacher, Mr. Richmond. With no other options, Nathan must heal old wounds in order to get back on the road.
Opening
January 2022
December, 2022
Musical Moodboard
composition excerpts
