Earl Lee (born 9 December 1983) is a Korean-Canadian conductor and cellist.

Early education

Lee was born in

Yeosu Yeosu (; ''Yeosu-si''), historically also Yosu, and known to the Japanese as Reisui during the period when Korea was under Japanese rule, is a city located on the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula in South Jeolla Province, South Korea and ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

,. He started piano at the age of 5, and started cello at aged 9. His entire family immigrated to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1995, then settled into

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1999. Lee began his career as a cellist in the

Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO) is a high-level orchestral training programme for musicians aged 22 and under, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. TSYO alumni are found in most major performing organizations in Canada, and many have embar ...

. He was accepted into the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship. Hi ...

at the age of 16; he studied cello with

Orlando Cole Orlando Cole (August 16, 1908 – January 25, 2010) was an American cello teacher who taught two generations of soloists, chamber musicians, and first cellists in a dozen leading orchestras, including Lynn Harrell, Jonah Kim, Ronald Leonard, L ...

and

Peter Wiley Peter Wiley (born 1955) is a cellist and cello teacher. He entered the Curtis Institute of Music at 13 years of age, where he studied with David Soyer. He was then appointed principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony at age 20, after one year ...

. Earl Lee was diagnosed with

focal dystonia Focal dystonia, or focal task specific dystonia, is a neurological condition, a type of ''dystonia'', that affects a muscle or group of muscles in a specific part of the body during specific activities, causing involuntary muscular contractions and ...

when he was 24. He was proactive in finding a solution for his condition; he flew to

to seek a top acupuncture specialist, but did not garner results. He sought out Spanish experts in the condition, but the recovery was very slow and unpredictable. Initially devastated, he turned to conducting as a music outlet.

Continued Education and Career

After graduating The

in 2005, Earl Lee received his master's degree in cello performance from the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

, where he studied with

David Soyer David Soyer (February 24, 1923February 25, 2010) was an American cellist. He was born in Philadelphia and began playing the piano at the age of nine. At 11, he started the cello. One of his first teachers was Diran Alexanian. Later on he studi ...

. When he began transitioning into conducting, he studied with

Ignat Solzhenitsyn Ignat Aleksandrovich Solzhenitsyn (russian: links=no, Игнат Александрович Солженицын; born 23 September 1972) is a Russian-American conductor and pianist. He is the conductor laureate of the Chamber Orchestra of Phi ...

in 2010. Lee received his Masters in Conducting from the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

in 2013 under the tutelage of

George Manahan George Manahan (born 1952, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) is an American conductor. Biography Manahan's parents were church musicians. In high school, he was a drum major in his high school marching band, and also conducted this band. Another of his earl ...

. His post-graduate conducting studies were done with

Hugh Wolff Hugh MacPherson Wolff (born October 21, 1953, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) is an American conductor. Biography Born in France while his father was serving in the U.S. Foreign Service, Wolff spent his primary-school years in London. He received his ...

at the

New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest independent music Music school, conservatory in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. The ...

Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Earl Lee was the RBC Resident Conductor for the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto ...

between 2015 and 2018.

Pittsburgh Symphony

Earl Lee is currently the Associate Conductor of the

Pittsburgh Symphony The ''Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'' (''PSO'') is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Pittsburgh, Cultural District. History The Pittsburgh Sy ...

Orchestra.

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Earl lee was named Assistant Conductor of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

in August 2021.

Awards and recognition

In 2018, Earl Lee was awarded the 50th Anniversary Heinz Unger Award from the

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by On ...

, recognizing him as one of Canada's most promising emerging conductor. He received the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship in 2013, chosen by conductor

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...

; this meant he was invited to travel to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

to study the music and life of

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

. In 2013, he also received the Ansbacher Fellowship by the American Austrian Foundation and members of the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

; this recognition meant spending six weeks at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

External links

Earl Lee Official Website

Pittsburgh Symphony profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Earl 1983 births Living people People from Yeosu Curtis Institute of Music alumni Male conductors (music) Juilliard School alumni South Korean conductors (music) Musicians from Toronto 21st-century Canadian conductors (music) 21st-century American musicians Cellists 21st-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century cellists