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Ilse-Mari Lee is Professor of Music at Montana State University in Bozeman. Born In South Africa, her principal teachers include cellists Raya Garbousova, Gordon Epperson, Peter Rejto, and Irene Sharp. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Masters degrees in Cello Performance, and in Theory and Composition from Northern Illinois University, and a Doctorate in Cello Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Arizona. She has performed in master classes for Mtislav Rostropovich, Pierre Fournier, Janos Starker, Steven Isserlis, Carter Brey, and Christopher Parkening. She studied composition with Robert Muczynski, Oscar Haugland and Jan Bach, and her compositions have been performed in the United States, Europe, Canada, and in South Africa.
Ilse-Mari is active as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, and performs regularly at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole Wyoming. She is principal cellist of the Intermountain Opera Company. In 1991, she was awarded the Montana Arts Council Individual Fellowship Award, and was selected to perform at the American Cello Congress in Phoenix. In 1992, she premiered the Cello Concerto, Opus 55, by Eric Funk. Collaborative performances include performances with the internationally renowned Moscow and Muir string quartets. CD releases include “The Duet Album” with classical guitarist Stuart Weber, “Song of the Cello” with pianist Michele Levin, and "In Performance at St. Timothy's with the Muir Quartet". “The Duet Album” was used as the soundtrack to Lifetime television’s documentary on the making of “The Horse Whisperer”.
MSU Cello Ensemble was founded in 1998 by Dr. Ilse-Mari Lee, Professor of Cello at Montana State University. The members represent a wide variety of academic disciplines, including music engineering, computer science, architecture and education. In February 1999, the cello ensemble was invited to perform at the All-Northwest Music Educators' Conference in Portland, Oregon. In 2000, they toured Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany, performing in Florence, Leipzig, Salzburg and Prague. In 2004, the Cello Ensemble was featured on the Host Night Concert of the Montana Music Teachers Convention in Great Falls. Most recently, the ensemble toured to China in March 2006, performing four concerts in Beijing and in Xian. Several compositions have been written especially for this ensemble by Bozeman composers Alan Leech, Gregory Young, Clifford Ship and Ilse-Mari Lee.
In 2002, Ilse-Mari premiered her Cello Concerto with the Billings Symphony. She will return as soloist with the orchestra in January 2004, performing the Dvorak Cello Concerto.
Ilse-Mari lives in Bozeman, with her husband Denny, a retired physics professor, and daughter, Elizabeth Marie.
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