Dr. Yena Lee
Assistant Professor of Music (Violin)
Office: Catlett Music Center 244D
Dr. Yena Lee, a distinguished violinist and educator, is celebrated for her versatility in both classical and contemporary music. Her artistic achievements span numerous international competitions, including the Wolfgang Marschner International Competition, Shean Competition, Canadian Music Competition, Young Texas Artist Competition, Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, Oneppo Chamber Music Competition, Grande Ronde Symphony Competition, Boston University Bach Competition, and the Young Korean Music Competition of Canada. Starting her musical journey at the age of 10 and making her orchestral debut by 14 and was awarded the “Most Promising Musician Award” from the district of British Columbia, Canada, in the same year. She was the youngest recipient of the prestigious JGU-Preis in the history of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. She is a supported artist by the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Council for the Arts, and the Laureate Concert Group in Germany.
Dr. Lee is a sought-after soloist, having performed with prestigious orchestras worldwide such as the Adrian Ensemble in Italy, the Boston Chamber Orchestra, Casalmaggiore International Music Festival Orchestra, Clear Lake Orchestra, the Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra, the Mainzer Virtuosi Kammerorchester, the Mainz Hochschulorchester, the Neumeyer Consort in Frankfurt, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, the Vancouver Pilgrim Orchestra, Vergilius Chamber Orchestra, and the West Coast Symphony. Her performances have been featured on art channels in Germany, Italy, and CBC Radio 2 in Canada. Dr. Lee gives regular solo and chamber music concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Some of her highlight concerts were held in venues such as David Geffen Hall, Museo del Violino, Orpheum Theatre, St. John’s Square, and Symphony Hall. She has recorded for Sheva Labels on the works of Peter Seabourne, Vivaldi, and Piazzolla’s Seasons. She is also a member of Duo Cor and will release an album of complete Brahms sonatas for piano and violin in the spring of 2025.
As an active chamber and orchestral musician, Dr. Lee is a member of the Mainzer Virtuosi Kammerorchester in Mainz, Germany, where she serves as co-concertmaster. She was a former associate concertmaster of the New Mexico Philharmonic and assistant concertmaster of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. She regularly collaborates with the Boston Chamber Orchestra, Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Kaleidoscope Orchestra, Kinetic Ensemble, Lucete Ensemble, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, New York Artists Guild, and Oklahoma Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. Dr. Lee has worked with Frank Huang, Ilya Kaler, Leonidas Kavakos, Ida Kavafian, Soovin Kim, Elmar Oliveira, Dora Schwarzberg, and Arnold Steinhardt, as well as in chamber music with the Artis Quartet, Borromeo Quartet, Brentano Quartet, Danish Quartet, Dover Quartet, Emerson Quartet, Hagen Quartet, Takács Quartet, and Tokyo Quartet. Dr. Lee has also participated in orchestral projects with John Adams, Joshua Bell, Julius Berger, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev, Midori Goto, Yo-Yo Ma, Ken-David Masur, Peter Oundjian, Krzysztof Penderecki, Larry Rachleff, José Serebrier, and Bramwell Tovey.
In 2018, Dr. Lee was appointed assistant artistic director of the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival. She has been invited as a guest artist and taught masterclasses in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom at the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival, Eckelhauser Musikfestival, Kalmia Music Festival, Love2Arts Festival, the Musicalta International Festival, Muzewest Concerts, Musiktage am Rhein Musik Festival, Norfolk Festival, Talent Music Festival Brescia, and Varna International Festival. She was invited to judge the inaugural Dallas International Violin Competition and Hudson International Music Competition.
Dr. Lee has enthusiastically taught musicians from amateur to professional levels of all ages for more than two decades. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Oklahoma School of Music. Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma, she was a teaching artist in the Music Initiative program and served as a violin instructor for music minors and non-major undergraduate and graduate students at Yale University. Her passion for pedagogy led her to lecture on string pedagogy for music education majors at Boston University, where she also taught violin, chamber music, and music fundamentals at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. She has given masterclasses at Baylor University, Boston University, Bowling Green State University, Butler University, Hochschule fur Musik Mainz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Houston.
Dr. Lee’s mentors include Taras Gabora, Lawrie Hill, Nai-Yuan Hu, Hyo Kang, Cho-Liang Lin, Anne Shih, and Peter Zazofsky. She completed her Diplom-Orchestermusik and Konzertexamen (Artist Diploma) as the youngest candidate at the Hochschule für Musik in Mainz, Germany. She received a Master of Music, a Master of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. Dr. Lee has served as a teaching assistant at Hochschule für Musik Mainz, Yale University, Boston University, and Rice University.
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Rice University
- DMA (2017 - 2021)
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Yale University
- MMA (2015 - 2016)
- MM (2013 - 2015)
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Johannes Gutenberg Universität Rheinland-Pfalz
- Konzertexamen/Artist Diploma (2013)
- Diplom Orchestermusik (2011)
