Life & Work with BEE Uyen Phuong and Duy Tran

Today we’d like to introduce you to BEE Uyen Phuong and Duy Tran.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
BEE: My music journey started at the age of four in Vietnam when I started taking piano lessons. In 2009, I received a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music. I was proud to be admitted to the Jazz Performance major, especially to attend my dream school. After graduating Berklee in 2012, I continued to pursue my Master’s degree at New England Conservatory, specializing in Contemporary Improvisation.

In the last five years, I dedicated my career to build my business, BEE Music School, with two locations in Westminster and Santa Ana. I love to create a space where people of all ages can learn and perform music. Now that BEE Music School has achieved some success, I decided to follow my original passion, to be a concert pianist. That is when I met my partner, music producer Duy Tran. I like Duy’s cinematic sound and detailed orchestration, which is what I envision for my music. Now I will let Duy share a bit about himself.

DUY: I grew up learning the piano, as my mother is a piano teacher, and my father was involved in music as well. Then in college, I decided to pursue composition and production, specifically for Film Scoring. I attended Musicians Institute for my undergraduate degree, then USC for my Master’s degree. I have worked on the series “Dear…” on Apple TV with composer Craig Richey. I have composed music for clients such as Samsung, Sony and La Roche Posay,… My music has also been showcased at Sundance Film Festival and HollyShorts Film Festival.

I feel fortunate to have a background in piano because I am able to grasp Bee’s performance quickly and add my orchestral production. Working with Bee is also a perfect opportunity for me to merge my Cinematic Orchestra world with the Pop Song world.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
BEE: Originally, I was going to have my own concert in March 2020 in Orange County. However, due to the sudden lockdown, I had to cancel the event three days before. I was devastated as I poured my heart and soul into that concert. On top of that, I was nervous for my business. We were struggling to maintain operation as students could not attend in-person classes. Luckily, we were able to switch to online music lessons. Now, thankfully the business is thriving even better than before the pandemic.

I am grateful for those obstacles because I had the chance to pause a beat and dedicated the time to produce my music with Duy during the pandemic. If the concert had happened, and my music school was operating normally, I would be hesitant about working on my own music.

DUY: The obstacle on top of my mind is we had to (and still) navigate our making music in the “new normal”. For example, musicians had to record all the live instruments remotely, so there was no longer the instant communication in the studio. Shooting music videos and following the social-distancing guidelines were challenging as well, especially the video “Tears” in the rain room. In the end, we got through the challenges, had a lot of fun and learned many things. We are proud of the work we had done.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
DUY: We are currently producing two projects simultaneously. The first one is our instrumental renditions of a few Vietnamese classics in the style of jazz combined with cinematic sound. The second is BEE Uyen Phuong’s original music.

We stood between various choices when it comes to expressing our signature as artists. We share a similar background of being brought up in Vietnamese culture but musically trained in America. Finally, we chose to blend Bee’s piano sound with the lush and grand sound of the orchestra and adding ethnic elements. Hence, it created our own language that connected the two contrasting cultures.

Furthermore, we pulled in a few fellow artists such as cellist Judy Kang, who toured many concerts with Celine Dion. She contributed her sound to “Lullaby to Life”; Percussionist Noriko Terada, who recorded for “Final Fantasy” video game series. Moreover, the video director of the 2 MVs is Landon Donoho, who has collaborated with big brands such as Disney, Toyota, Playstation,…and artists such as Tina Guo, Taylor Davis,…

BEE: On September 5th, we received 11 awards at the 10th Annual Indie Music Channel. The award ceremony was held at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood, California. We were already so happy when we got 15 nominations, so we were speechless when we got so many awards. Some of the awards include Best Instrumental Female Artist, Best Instrumental Recording, Best Jazz Artist, Best Jazz Instrumentalist, and Best Jazz Recording.

DUY: I was also honored to receive three awards for Best Instrumental Producer, Best Jazz Producer and Producer of the Year. Then, at the end of the ceremony, we were surprised when the IMC presented three special, unexpected awards for BEE Uyen Phuong: Best New Artist of the Year, Recording of the Year and Artist of the Year. Beside the IMC, we are so happy to be a nominee in the 2021 Hollywood Music in Media (HMMA), in the category of World Music for the song “Lullaby to Life”. We’re looking forward to the result on November 17.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
BEE: When I was young, I loved participating in competitions and gameshows. It gave me a rush to try my best. Those were also opportunities to meet and learn from my peers to see how I can improve. I have many great memories such as winning five times the gameshow “Happy Notes” (Vietnamese version of “Name That Tune’’), achieving 7 National Gold Medals in competitions hosted by Yamaha and Kawaii in Vietnam. I am always in it to win it.

DUY: The childhood memory that sticks with me most is organizing performances for students at my father’s music school in Vietnam (MPU School of Music). He always encouraged me to explore music in any shapes and forms; so I guess my passion for producing started there. Planning shows, rehearsing and seeing a team effort comes to life on stage, those things are thrilling to me.

Contact Info:

• Email: beeuyenphuong@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.beeuyenphuong.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beeuyenphuong/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BEEUyenPhuong
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWacWvauygXdKYXoLbdUexw
• Other: https://www.duyletran.com/

Image Credits:
– ck.pixel Photography – Robert Swapp – DarylJim Photography