Born in 1970 in Sibu, Malaysia, he is a composer and dizi and xiao improviser. Yii has been recognised as one of the major voices among Southeast Asian composers of his generation. Yii’s music is perceived as bold and avant-garde. His works use sounds and rhythms of many traditional instruments from various ethnic cultures. The sensitivity of space that Yii mastered as an artist (fine arts) in his younger years is also evident in his music.
His music has been widely performed in Asia, America, and Europe by ensembles such as Ensemble Mosaik, Interensemble, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, The Claremont Concert Choir, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Birmingham Conservatoire Wind Orchestra, Pan-Pacific Ensemble and musicians such as Peter Veale, Christopher Redgate, Moritz Ernst, Jürg Henneberger, Maruta Staravoitava, Anne Harley, Luisa Sello, and Duplum Duo.
Yii was the winner of the 11th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards (Malaysia, 2014), the winner of Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Forum for Malaysian Composers (2007), 3rd Prize in the International Composition for Chinese Orchestra (Singapore, 2006), and finalist at the Città di Udine International Composers Competition (2010).
Recently, Yii won the National Outstanding Educator Award in 2018 presented by the Private Education Cooperative of Malaysia. In 2015, he was the Scripps College Erma Taylor O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Professor at Scripps College in Claremont. He was guest composer and guest speaker at Birmingham Conservatoire (2013 and 2014), York St John University (2014), Yale–NUS College (2017), Iowa State University (2015), Tianjin Conservatoire of Music (2017), Mahidol University (2017), and Guanxi Conservatoire of Music (2014, 2015, 2016).
Yii was the festival director of Kuala Lumpur Contemporary Music Festival 2009, the festival director of SoundBridge festival (2013, 2015), the president of Society of Malaysian Contemporary Composers (2014–16), and has been a senior lecturer at SEGi College Subang Jaya, Malaysia since 2000.
Selected works: Inang for Chinese orchestra (2005), A Note Promenade for orchestra (2006), Buka Panggung for Chinese orchestra (2006), Menghadap Rebab for erhu, rebab and mixed orchestra (2006), Inner Voices I for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, vibraphone, violin and double bass (2007), Inner Voices II for flute (2007), Opening of the Stage for orchestra (2007), Bayang for wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre and Chinese orchestra (2008), Drunken Madness for trombone and piano (2008), Gongan for oboe and piano (2008), How the Crocodile Got His Teeth for narrator and wind ensemble (2008), Qin.Sheng for harmonica and Chinese orchestra (2008), How the Crocodile Got His Teeth for shadow puppet theatre and small ensemble (2009), Inner Voices IIb for shakuhachi (2009), Inner Voices IV for dizi and Chinese orchestra (2009), Kuang Cao for gaohu, erhu, zhonghu and zhongruan (2009), Timang Burung for piano (2009), Wild Cursive for violin, viola, cello and vibraphone (2009), Wild Cursive for zhongruan, violin, viola and cello (2009), Yao.Sen for Chinese orchestra (2009), Inner Voices V for yangqin and Chinese orchestra (2010), My Spirit Is Dancing for piano (2010), Entropy for bass suona and Chinese orchestra (2011), Equatorial Rainforestfor ruan quartet (2011), Imagery for flute and wind chimes (2011), Imagery for viola (2011), My Ears Are Still Ringing for flute and alto saxophone (2011), My Spirit Is Chanting for soprano, bass clarinet and percussion (2011), My Spirit Is Singing for oboe (2011), The Green Walkfor orchestra (2012), My Spirit Is Soaring for trombone (2012), CHEERS for flute, piano, teacups and teapot (2013), Green Snake and the Monkfor xiao, guqin, zhongruan and percussion (2013), Imagery IIb for flute and viola (2013), My Spirit Is Indestructible for alto flute (2013), Secret Book of Sun Bu’er for soprano and piano (2013), Echoes of Eternity for symphonic wind orchestra (2014), My Spirit Is Playing for piano (2014), Reflection for gehu octet (2014), The Rhapsody of River Wisdom for orchestra and chamber ensemble (2014), Forest Threnody for two sopranos and choir (2015), Voice of the Quiet of the Mountains for huqin quartet (2015), Equatorial Rainforest for wind quintet (2016), My Spirit Is Awakening for bassoon (2016), My Spirit Is Playing AGAIN for piano (2016), Silly Girl and Strange Tree for wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre and Chinese orchestra (2016), Echoes for piano (2017), Echos for oboe (2017), Imaginary Bodies for soprano and small ensemble (2017), Concerto 4 Orchestra for orchestra (2018), Sounds of Nature for Chinese orchestra (2018), Gagak Parit for soprano and piano (2019), My Spirit Is Resonating for soprano saxophone (2019), Native Soil for Chinese orchestra (2019).