Yoonhee Lee is a Korean-American violinist, whose adventurous musicianship and expressive clarity fuel a versatile career as soloist, chamber collaborator, and orchestral leader. She is formed by the teaching of Masuko Ushioda, Vera Beths, Anner Bijlsma, Ana Chumachenco, and Roger Tapping.
Lee has premiered and recorded music by Rebecca Saunders, Enno Poppe, Georg Friedrich Haas, Beat Furrer, Jörg Widmann, and the late Kaija Saariaho and Harrison Birtwistle. She has appeared on major stages across Europe, Asia, and North America, including Berliner Philharmonie, WDR Funkhaus in Cologne, Huddersfield Town Hall, Royal Albert Hall in London, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikkitalo in Helsinki, and Shostakovich Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, with two extensive tours in China. In her hometown of Boston, she plays regularly in Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, Sanders Theatre, and Calderwood Hall at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with various ensembles. She currently serves as the Concertmaster of the Kendall Square Orchestra, an ensemble composed of Boston’s leading scientists, engineers, physicians, and entrepreneurs.
Born in Seoul, Lee began piano at three and violin at five, later immigrating to Boston just before her tenth birthday. Navigating languages and cultures shaped an artistic voice drawn to the fluidity and fragility of boundaries, which she explores through innovation and rigorous experimentation.
Lee earned her BM and MM from the New England Conservatory and an MM cum laude from Conservatorium van Amsterdam; she received support from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Study Abroad. Lee plays on a 1925 Carl G. Becker violin, and her primary bow is a Joseph Henry circa 1860. By day, she is a Sales Executive at Carriage House Violins of Johnson String Instrument.
February 2026