Korean pianist Soyeon Lee has already been hailed by The New York Times as a pianist with "a huge, richly varied sound, a lively imagination and a firm sense of style," while The Washington Post has lauded her for her "stunning command of the keyboard."
Soyeon Lee has been rapturously received as guest soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, symphony orchestras of Columbus, Napa Valley, San Diego, Scottsdale, Shreveport, New York City's Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (Dominican Republic), including performances under the batons of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jahja Ling and Otto-Werner Mueller.
Recital appearances include New York City programs at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall and Lincoln Center for the Performing Art's Alice Tully Hall, Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Cleveland’s Severance Hall, the Ravinia Festival's "Rising Stars" series, Auditorio de Musica de Nacional in Madrid – part of a 13-city tour of Spain – and Baek-Am Art Hall in Seoul. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Parker String Quartet, bassist Edgar Meyer and the Edgeffect Ensemble with Mark O'Connor, and performed at the chamber music festivals of Laguna Beach, Taos and Montréal. Among Ms. Lee's most recent collaborative projects are joint performances in Seoul with her pop-star sister, Soeun Lee.
Passionate about expanding environmental consciousness through music, Soyeon Lee gave to critical acclaim the first ever eco-awareness concert at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in February 2008. Presented by TerraCycle, Inc. and Honest Tea, Inc., Ms. Lee wore a commissioned concert gown, made of over 6000 used juice pouches, by eco-fashion designer Nina Valenti. This concert, "Re!nvented," occasioned over 20 media features, including The New York Times, TimeOut New York, International Herald Tribune, V Magazine, Vogue.com, Miami magazine, the Korean Broadcasting System and ABC's "Good Morning America."
Soyeon Lee was featured on the January 2006 cover of SYMPHONY magazine’s annual “Emerging Artists” issue and in the 2008 edition of Musical America’s “More Thrills of Discovery.” She has been heard in live broadcasts from New York City on WQXR’s “McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase” and WNYC’s “Soundcheck,” and recorded performances from Washington’s WGMS and Cleveland’s WCLV; she has also been heard throughout the United States on National Public Radio. A classical music documentary featuring Soyeon Lee, entitled Classic Club, has been aired nationally in Japan on NHK.
Soyeon Lee’s debut CD on the Naxos label, featuring sonatas of Scarlatti, was released in February 2007. In the fall of 2008, she signed with KOCH International Classics; her first album, comprised of music of Bach/Busoni, Albéniz, Ravel, Huang Ruo and Prokofiev, will be released in April 2009. For this album, Ms. Lee has been named the recipient of the 2009 Young Artist Award from the Classical Recording Foundation.
Born in South Korea, Soyeon Lee began studying the piano at the age of five. At age nine, she moved to the United States and attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, graduating with highest honors in music. Her early teachers included Victoria Mushkatkol and Marina Schmidt. Ms. Lee earned her Bachelor’s and Master's degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald. While at Juilliard, she earned the distinguished Artist Diploma, won the Rachmaninoff Concerto Competition, two consecutive Gina Bachauer Scholarship Competitions and was awarded the Helen Fay Prize, Artur Rubinstein Prize, Susan Rose Career Grant and the William Petschek Piano Debut Award.
Soyeon Lee is a winner of the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, as well as the Second and Mozart prizes of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and the Bronze Medal of the Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition.
Ms. Lee currently serves as teaching assistant to Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School, and is a Steinway Artist.
