He has been named one of the “25 Contemporary Composers Helping to Push String Music to New Heights” by Strings Magazine in 2012. The critics have praised Lee’s music that “… stormed the heavens with sweeping melodic gestures, romantic yearning” (The Washington Post), “… deserves many more performances… It’s a perfect example of how lyrical and richly textured a modern work can be" (Stings Magazine), "… stunning coloristic effects" (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “... A towering, often ferocious work… genuine… Lee is keeping an old flame very, very alive while fueling it with something that could only have been invented in this century” (Lucid Culture).