Israel LAI Miu-yeung is a composer, arranger, piano accompanist, conductor, orchestral violinist, translator and hyperpolyglot from Hong Kong. He is currently an Esther Yewpick Lee Millennium Scholar reading for an MPhil in Music (Composition) at the University of Oxford, studying with Prof. Martyn Harry and Prof. Robert Saxton, following his graduation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2018 with a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts in Music, where he studied composition with Prof. Lee Wan-ki Wendy, Dr. Chan Kai-young, and Prof. Chan Wai-kwong Victor. He was previously an exchange student at Lund University, Sweden. He is a member of the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild, the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong, and the American Guild of Organists (Hong Kong Chapter).

Growing up in a Christian environment, Lai has served as pianist, assistant conductor and composer in residence at his church and made chamber arrangements of hymns, such as Christmas Suite (2016), as well as forays into the field of modernised Cantonese Christian music, such as Seven Last Words from the Cross (2018).

Lai is eager to explore ways of combining and incorporating different musical idioms inside his compositions, from classical to modern to ethnic, from homogeneous to constantly changing. He is interested in a variety of instrumentations, especially woodwinds and large ensembles. Fascinated by large-scale classical forms, he has worked on his suite of Swedish Rhapsodies (2015-) for chamber ensembles and his Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (2015-18).

On the chamber side, his Rondo (2017) for wind quintet was acclaimed at the premiere, and Introduction and Intermezzo (2017) was broadcast on radio at the finals of New Generation Hong Kong 2017 competition. He gained international exposure with his Theme and Variations (2017) at the highSCORE Festival, Italy, Winter (2017) in Taiwan, and recently, his Playwright (2018), played by the renowned Mivos Quartet. He is always open to new influences and inspirations, and particularly interested in the applications of polytonality.