About Daniel Tsz-shing Lei
DPhil Music, in-progress, (University of Oxford)
MMus Performance (Goldsmiths College, University of London)
MA Ethnomusicology (SOAS, University of London)
BA Music [Honour] (HKU)
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Daniel Tsz-shing Lei plays both Western flute and dizi, a family of bamboo transverse flutes. His passion encompasses the realms of orchestral concerts, folk ensembles, and contemporary music. He actively engages in traditional music activities, and, simultaneously, advances the boundaries of music by commissioning, staging and recording contemporary compositions for the Western and bamboo flutes. He envisions instruments, especially the folkloric ones, should not be regarded as representatives or representations of regional or national music genres, but the flexible means which conveys instrumentalists’ personal and subjective artistic values.
Daniel's research focuses on musical cosmopolitanism, performativity of music, and ethnomusicology, which have resulted in a lecture recital Chinese Concerto: my humble views in Hong Kong on the categorisation of Chinese concertos (2021), a descriptive text for the exhibition Music in Facsimile in The University of Hong Kong Music Library (2021), and a video project (2023) produced by Goldsmiths College, University of London, featuring a revival of The Shepherd’s Piccolo (1937/1957) arranged by Li Huanzhi for bamboo flute and piano.The constant immersion in music research and performativity has made him very conscious of the undesirability of being a virtuoso who pursues technique without reflecting on the meaning beyond sounds, or a scholar who is musicking banally in an ivory tower. He seeks to excel as a scholar-performer who specialises in redefining the musicality of traditional instruments through versatile performances.
Off the stage, Daniel has been actively involved in music criticism and writing since 2015. He publishes Chinese-language articles on leading media outlets in Hong Kong, Beijing and Taiwan, among which are The News Lens and Ming Pao. To date, he has written more than 150,000 words. A seasoned writer of feature articles and concert programme notes in English, he has established successful collaborations with prestigious organisations such as the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Hong Kong Harmonica Association.
A keen educator, Daniel is currently the bamboo flute instructor for the master's performance module at SOAS,University of London. He extends his teaching through private in-person and online tuition.
Recently, Daniel is participating in the production of Anna’s Gaze, a forthcoming independent film features Hong Kong literatures and music, serving as the librettist and one of the three creative-leads, as detailed on the project's website.
This site is launched for Daniel to share about his music, words, and more.
Instagram | Youtube
Email: leitszshing@gmail.com
© Daniel Lei 李梓成