March 2022 (for voice, violin, harmonica, and guitar)

lyrics by Jessi Kaufman & music by Yuri Lee

Written, performed, and produced for an 11th grade English assignment, Bindlestiff Blues narrates the story of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men about two migrant workers who move from place to place in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression.

The song explores the lives of Lennie, a burly but child-like migrant; George, a companion and care-taker of Lennie; Slim, a skilled worker and omniscient figure; Candy, an aging ranch handyman; Crooks, an African-American stable-hand; Curley, a confrontational, aggressive young man; and Curley’s wife, the only female character in the story, desperate for company.

Oct. 2020 (for orchestra & voice)

lyrics by Jessi Kaufman & music by Yuri Lee

Taking advantage of a global project that allowed for creativity to shine through, I collaborated with my friend, Jessi Kaufman, in writing Madame Deficit, which tells the story of the French Revolution through Marie Antoinette’s perspective. This song merges music of the two parties in dispute: the royal family and the poor. By gloating, complaining, and gossiping, the sassy queen brings the listener back to the major social upheaval in the 18th century.

Special thanks to all of the wonderful singers and the awesome lyricist!

illustrated by Satoko Kitagawa

The lyric video, with Nora Schell Podoll as Antoinette, was premiered in the virtual holiday concert video in Music Around Us Project (MAUP #16).

April 2020 (for mezzo-soprano and violin)

“The Tyger” is a famous poem by William Blake who was a pious man and an accomplished painter before he became interested in poetry. He frequently incorporated biblical themes in his paintings and poems, since he was extremely religious during the earlier part of his life. But, this particular poem contains a dark undertone as the speaker asks a series of rhetorical questions regarding the existence and the audacity of God. It is a good representation of a crisis of faith, which may have been affected by a traumatic event in 1787 (which was when his beloved brother died from tuberculosis at the age of 24. This poem actually goes hand in hand with another poem Blake wrote called “The Lamb”, which is kind of like paying tribute to God and the creation of the world. So I began the piece with a sweet “lamb” motif that progresses into dark, twisted music to illustrate the change in his view of God. I hope you enjoy, The Tyger.

Performed remotely on zoom by Duo Cortona on May 9th, 2020