Byungchan Lee first gained recognition as the prizewinner of the inaugural 2009 Yuri Yankelevitch International Violin Competition. In 2015, he was named one of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Next!” classical music stars and later included in their “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” in 2017.

Lee has performed alongside Stevie Wonder at Montreal’s Bell Centre and was featured as solo violinist in Edward Burtynsky’s digital installation In the Wake of Progress in Toronto. His performances have been highlighted in The Strad and La Scena Musicale, and broadcast on CBC/Radio-Canada, ICI Musique, The New Classical FM, and BBC Radio 3. He has appeared in major halls across Canada and internationally, including Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, Carnegie Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, and Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.

He has performed as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, McGill Symphony Orchestra, I Medici di McGill, Prairie Virtuosi, and the Korean-Canadian Symphony Orchestra, where he served as 2024–2025 Artist-in-Residence. He was also invited by the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra as guest alumni soloist for their 85th-anniversary gala.

An active chamber musician, Lee has premiered works at Juilliard’s Focus! Festival, the Museum of Modern Art’s Summergarden, and the New York Choreographic Institute. He has performed across Canada at festivals including Banff International String Quartet Festival, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and Ottawa Chamberfest, and in the U.S. at venues such as the Harvard Club of New York, and the residence of the Japanese Ambassador in Washington, D.C.

Lee has participated in summer festivals including Aspen, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, McGill International String Quartet Academy, and Toronto Summer Music, studying with musicians such as Günter Pichler, Gerhard Schulz, Michael Tree, and members of the Danish, Dover, Juilliard, Takács, and Tokyo Quartets. He has collaborated with violinists Ray Chen, Augustin Hadelich, Stefan Jackiw, Ben Beilman, Martin Beaver, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and Jennifer Montone of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

He performed with ensembles including Juilliard415, Versoi Ensemble, New York Classical Players, Kinetic Ensemble, Amici, and Art of Time. He has served as Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra, McGill Symphony Orchestra, Kingston Symphony, and National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and as Principal 2nd of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Associate Principal 2nd of Sarasota Opera. He has worked with conductors including John Adams, Gianandrea Noseda, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Franz Welser-Möst, and the late Sir Andrew Davis.

Lee has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank, Sylva Gelber Music Foundation, British Columbia Arts Council, and Vancouver Korean-Canadian Scholarship Foundation. Recognized for his leadership, he holds a lifetime Sylff Association Fellowship and has participated in community outreach, performing in senior homes, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers in New York City and Ontario. He was artistic consultant and producer for the “Violin Celebration Series” published by the Royal Conservatory of Music, and also coordinated Mécénat Musica’s free outdoor concerts in Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He earned a Bachelor of Music (2015) and Artist Diploma (2016) from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, receiving the Lloyd Carr-Harris Scholarship and the Golden Violin Award. He holds a Master of Music from The Juilliard School (2018), where he received the Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant, and was selected for the 2019 Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He has studied with Jonathan Crow, Taras Gabora, Masao Kawasaki, Denise Lupien, Felicia Moye, André Roy, Barry Shiffman, and Axel Strauss, as well as period performance with Robert Mealy.