Biography
yeemz (Yi-Mei Templeman) is a cellist and singer-songwriter from Santa Monica, California. She currently lives in residence at the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA as a member of the internationally acclaimed piano trio, Trio Gaia. Cellist Yi-Mei Templeman creatively fuses genres, and rethinks typical presentation of classical music in order to welcome people of all backgrounds into her distinctly emotive and intimate storytelling. Yi-Mei hails from Santa Monica, California, but has brought her music to venues across Asia, South America, Canada, and the United States. She has spent past summers at the Perlman Music Program, Yale University's Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program, Carnegie Hall’s Audience Engagement Institute, and the Tanglewood Institute, where she was principal cellist of the Young Artists Orchestra. She also toured Taiwan with the National Taiwan Youth Symphony and performed in the International Piatigorsky Festival. She studied privately with LA Phil's associate principal cellist, Ben Hong, for four years, and now studies with Laurence Lesser and Lluis Claret.
In the fall of 2018, Yi-Mei founded Trio Gaia with violinist Grant Houston and pianist Andrew Barnwell. The trio is currently New England Conservatory's youngest ever graduate piano trio in residence, and recently won 1st prize at the 2022 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition, as well as prizes in the 2022 Premio Trio di Trieste International Music Competition, 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and the 2019 Plowman National Chamber Music Competition.
Outside of her work with Trio Gaia, Yi-Mei began experimenting with singing and playing her cello like a guitar in 2018, when she was unable to bring her ukelele to college with her. Since then, yeemz has quickly established the roots of a uniquely multi-faceted performing career which makes her an avid recording musician and moonlights as a singer-songwriter, strumming her cello sideways like a guitar. Most recently, she performed original songs and classical music alike at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater in NYC, opening for Ben Abraham.
The songwriting inspiration comes from literature, indie-folk, and classical music alike.
As a recording musician, Yi-Mei's cello-playing has been featured on Sabrina Carpenter’s newest album, in collaborations with Adam Melchor, and on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for pop artist Ashe. Lately, Yi-Mei has been voraciously working on songwriting, string arranging, and music production. You can find her growing collection of self-produced original music on all streaming services under the pseudonym "yeemz". Her fourth self-produced single, "Rest Easy" was recently released on streaming services. Yi-Mei also just finished scoring her first short film, “The Unreachable Star”, which premiered in Los Angeles in February of 2023.
Yi-Mei also teaches cello privately and as a teaching fellow of Boston Hope Music's partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital. She earned a B.M. from the New England Conservatory in 2022 with a minor in Cultural Studies. She is currently pursuing a G.D. and an M.M. in Chamber Music with Trio Gaia through NEC’s Professional Piano Trio Residency Program.
When not playing cello (sideways or vertically), you can find Yi-Mei baking cookies for friends, reading surrealist fiction, scouring Depop for colorful vintage clothes, solving Rubik’s Cubes, or practicing yoga.
You can find her on instagram @yeemz.cello .
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