Lim Soon Lee’s musical journey began at the age of eight when he learned piano and violin under the tutelage of Singaporean instructors – Goh Soon Tioe, Tan Kah Chin, Teo Kian Seng, Moses Wang, and Vivien Goh. In 1981, he obtained his Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music for violin and viola, and won First Prize in the Viola Open Section at the Singapore National Music Competition.

Under the Public Service Commission Scholarship, Soon Lee studied at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, graduating with a Bachelor of Music (Distinction) in 1983. He studied under world-renowned violists Atar Arad and Francis Tursi, and completed a two-year conducting course with Professors David Effron and Donald Hunsberger. He was Principal Violist at the Heidelberg Music Festival in 1984 and 1986 and was awarded a scholarship to study viola under Kim Kashkashian at the Lausanne Academy of Music in Switzerland in 1986.

From 1987 to 1997, Soon Lee was with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), serving as Sub-Principal Violist from 1989 to 1997. He was Singapore’s only representative member at the 1988 World Philharmonic Orchestra in Montreal, Canada.

Soon Lee conducted the SSO in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1983 SEA Games and the 1996 World Trade Organisation First Ministerial Conference’s Farewell Concert. During the National Day Parade in 1997, he also conducted the Asian Youth Orchestra. He was the Assistant Conductor of the Singapore Youth Orchestra (SYO) from 1990 to 1997 and was responsible for the SYO Training Ensemble. From 2005 to 2011, he was Music Director/ Principal Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra. During this time, he was also the Associate Principal of String Performance at School of the Arts (SOTA) from 2006 to 2013.

The NUS Symphony Orchestra (NUSSO) is a youth orchestra comprising musicians from all faculties, united in their love of music and will to share it with audiences. As an education-centric youth orchestra, NUSSO sees as part of our mission to cultivate a culture of excellence amongst members to making classical music more accessible and relevant. Ultimately, the Orchestra aspires to create a community of orchestral music advocates who will contribute to the sustainability of our art form.

NUSSO can trace its humble beginnings to the 1920s as a chamber ensemble. It was formally established in 1979 as the NUS Concert Orchestra under the directorship of Paul Abisheganaden, before being inaugurated as the NUS Symphony Orchestra under current Music Director and Resident Conductor Maestro Lim Soon Lee.

As part of its commitment towards excellence, the orchestra offers its musicians artistic guidance by professional tutors and countless opportunities to perform. Through its challenging repertoire, the orchestra continues to hone its skills and raise its standards by pushing the limits of artistic maturity and expression. NUSSO delivers our promise to providing accessible and relevant orchestral music through our regular free outreach concerts, including performances held at Singapore Botanic Gardens and Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. NUSSO has also performed extensively overseas, embarking on tours and festivals in Italy, Austria, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia.

NUSSO has had many collaborations with distinguished figures, from guest conductors including Professor Hikmet Simsek and the late Shalom Ronly Riklis to the renowned Swiss alphorn soloist Jozsef Molnar. In 2018, NUSSO collaborated with the NUS Choir to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the closing show of the NUS Arts Festival. Most recently in June 2019, the orchestra worked with the Konzerthaus Berlin Audience Orchestra and Singapore Wind Symphony Percussion Ensemble to stage joint performances in Berlin and locally at Victoria Concert Hall. The orchestra looks forward to continuing this international collaboration in a tour to Berlin in June 2020.