Violinist Byungchan Lee is a sought-after performer in solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts on the international stage. First garnering global attention as prizewinner of the inaugural 2009 Yuri Yankelevitch International Violin Competition, he was selected as one of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Next!” classical music stars in 2015 and was subsequently named one of their “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” in 2017. Lee has played alongside Stevie Wonder at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and was featured as solo violinist in photographer Edward Burtynsky’s digital installation “In the Wake of Progress” filmed at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. He has been featured in The Strad and La Scena Musicale, and heard on CBC/Radio-Canada, ICI Musique, The New Classical FM, and BBC Radio 3 (UK). He has also performed in most major halls across Canada, and in prominent venues around the world including Alice Tully Hall and David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Helsinki Music Centre, and the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.

Lee has appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony Orchestra and I Medici di McGill (Montreal), and Prairie Virtuosi (Saskatoon). He was invited by the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra as guest alumni soloist at their 85th anniversary gala in 2015. He has concertized extensively throughout Canada presented by the Arte Musica Foundation, Banff International String Quartet Festival, Festival de Lanaudière, Fondation Place des Arts, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Orford Musique, Ottawa Chamberfest, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and the Korean Cultural Centre/Korean Embassy in Ottawa. In the United States he was invited to perform at the Harvard Club of New York, Robbie Collomore Series, Shandelee Music Festival, South Orange Performing Arts Center, The Forum (St. Thomas, USVI), Union League Club, and the residence of the Japanese Ambassador (Washington, DC). In addition he has given chamber music premieres at Juilliard’s Focus! Festival, Museum of Modern Art’s Summergarden, and the New York Choreographic Institute.

He has spent formative summers at Aspen, Colorado Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Music Master’s Course Japan, McGill International String Quartet Academy, and Toronto Summer Music. At these festivals he has had the privilege of working with such venerable musicians as Günter Pichler and Gerhard Schulz of the Alban Berg Quartet, the late Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet, and members of the Danish, Dover, Juilliard, Takács, and Tokyo quartets.

Lee has collaborated with ensembles including Juilliard415 (New York), Versoi Ensemble (New York/Helsinki), New York Classical Players, Kinetic (Houston), Amici (Toronto), and Art of Time (Toronto). He performs extensively with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and is currently serving as Associate Principal 2nd Violin of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra. Previously he has also served as Concertmaster, Principal 2nd, and in other leadership positions with the Kingston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, McGill Symphony Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

He gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank (2016-2021), Sylva Gelber Music Foundation (2017, 2021), British Columbia Arts Council (2016, 2017, 2020), and the Vancouver Korean-Canadian Scholarship Foundation (2017). Recognized for his leadership in music, Lee holds a lifetime Sylff Association Fellowship, and performed in senior homes, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers throughout New York City as a Gluck Community Service Fellow. In summer 2020 he collaborated with Concerts in Care to bring live music to long-term care homes across Ontario, and coordinated Mécénat Musica’s “Mini-Concerts Santé – a series of free outdoor concerts in disadvantaged neighbourhoods throughout metropolitan Toronto to help mitigate the effects of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to relaunching these projects in summer 2021, he served as Artistic Consultant and Producer for the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Lee received his Bachelor of Music in 2015 and Artist Diploma in 2016 from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, where he was recipient of the Lloyd Carr-Harris Scholarship and the Golden Violin Award – Canada’s largest collegiate music prize. He continued his studies at The Juilliard School where he received his Master of Music in 2018 graduating with a Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant for artistic merit and leadership. He was selected for the 2019 Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Lee has studied violin with Jonathan Crow, Taras Gabora, Masao Kawasaki, Denise Lupien, Robert Mealy, Felicia Moye, André Roy, Barry Shiffman, and Axel Strauss.

(02/09/2024)