Hope Lee was born in Taiwan in 1953 and immigrated to Canada in 1967. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto before going on to McGill University to study piano and composition. Further studies in composition took her to the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, in Breisgau, Germany, the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany) and the Durham Oriental Music Festival in England. Among her composition teachers were Bengt Hambraeus, Brian Cherney, and Klaus Huber. Between 1987 and 1990 Lee studied Chinese traditional music and poetry, as well as computer music, in Berkeley, California. Lee has composed music for various combinations of instruments, almost exclusively for chamber ensembles. Many have been performed at international music festivals and have won major awards. She has also been engaged as a visiting or guest composer at festivals and universities in Switzerland, Germany, China and Canada.