ChoEun Lee

ChoEun Lee, a native of South Korea, is an active pianist, vocal coach, and chamber musician. She has given numerous performances in Korea, the United States, Austria, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, and Taiwan; in major venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York City, OzawaHall in Tanglewood Music Center, and Harris Concert Hall in Aspen Music Festival. She has worked extensively in recitals and masterclasses with renowned musicians, including Stephanie Blythe, Jake Heggie, Martin Katz, Anne Sofie von Otter, Christine Schäfer, Dawn Upshaw, and Linda Watson. She was a pianist in Opera gala concerts at the Opera Theatre and Music Festival in Lucca, Italy, where she worked with Donna Brunsma, Gianfranco Cosmi, and Rolando Russo. She was twice invited to the Tanglewood Music Festival and has been named a recipient of the Grace B. Jackson Prize. One of her performances in Seiji Ozawa Hall was broadcasted on WAMC. She was also invited to the Emerging Artist Fellowship Program in Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar in Potsdam (NY), directed by Stephanie Blythe and Alan Smith. Since 2016, she has been invited as a repetiteur to the American Institute of Musical Studies(AIMS) in Graz (Austria).

 

ChoEun Lee, as a harpsichordist, has performed many Baroque music concerts, and she is also passionate about discovering and performing contemporary classical music and vocal chamber music. She has appeared many times at the Grandin Vocal Chamber Music Festival in Cincinnati. She has premiered various works and has worked with many living composers, including John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, Douglas Hedwig, Jake Heggie, Thomas Pasatieri, John Plant, and Chinary Ung. She world-premiered co-commissioned vocal chamber music, The Ocean of Eternity, for soprano, saxophone, and piano by Lori  Laitman, at the National Opera Center in New York City, and she recently participated in Laitman's new CD release, The Ocean of Eternity. (Label: ACIS, spring 2022).

 

ChoEun has been actively involved in choral ensembles. She has appeared at the National Collegiate Choral Organization conference in Fort Collins, CO, in 2011, with Chamber Singers at USC, directed by Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe, where she was acclaimed by a composer, Paul Carey: ‘ChoEun Lee’s subtle phrasing was the epitome of expressive choral accompanying. Every note and phrase she touched were golden, EVERY note mattered, and that is something you do not often hear…’ ChoEun joined a choir tour with USC Chamber Singers to New Zealand and Australia, performing concerts in Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland, Sydney, and Brisbane. And, she joined the Lee University Chorale tour to Advent Sing in Vienna, Austria, and has performed at Wien Rathaus in 2019 and 2022.

 

As an active clinician, ChoEun Lee has given numerous masterclasses and presentations, including at Chattanooga Music Teachers Association (CMTA), Covenant College, Georgia College, Yeungnam University (Korea), Seoul Cyber University (Korea), Taitung University (Taiwan), and the National Taipei Normal University (Taiwan). She was invited to the Annual UTC Piano Arts Festival as a guest artist and competition adjudicator; and she judged at the Georgia Music Teachers Association (GMTA) competition and the TN Festival Music Competition. She was invited as a guest panel to CollabFest at the University of Southern California and the University of North Texas.

 

ChoEun Lee holds a B.M. from Kyungwon University, an M.M. from the University of Cincinnati, and a D.M.A from the University of Southern California. She is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society, and a recipient of the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Keyboard Collaborative Arts scholarship four times. Previously, she taught at the California State University, San Bernadino, as a staff pianist and opera music director, and was on the faculty at Lee University (Cleveland, TN) as a (tenured) Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano and Vocal Coaching and a Director of LeeU Collab Music. She also served on the Executive Board of the Tennessee Music Teachers Association (TMTA) as a recording secretary, and co-chaired for the 2023 TMTA State Conference and Competition. In summer of 2023, she received a Teacher of Year (TOY) award from Chattanooga Music Teachers Association (CMTA). She currently serves on the leadership team of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society (IKCAS), and the CollabFest (an international conference for collaborative pianists) as an Assistant Artistic Director. She lives in Maryland with her family and freelances as a pianist, vocal coach, and chamber musician in Washington D.C./Baltimore areas.