Hyekyung Lee, born in Wonju, Korea in 1959, began to play piano at the age of 6. After winning several national music competitions, she had her first public concert with Seoul Sinfonietta Orchestra in 1970, and 4 years later became the soloist for the Korean Jeunesses Musicales Orchestra. Entering Folkwang Music College in Essen. Germany in 1976. she subsequently won the DAAD German government scholarship, the Folkwang Prize Competition and the nationwide German Music College Union Competition.
Transferring to Munich Music College, she graduated with top marks in 1981. During 2 years of graduate school, she gave recitals, performed for various radio Programs and earned the Bach Prize at Vianna da Motta International Competition in Lisbon.
In 1984, Miss Lee returned home to teach at Chung-Ang University as a professor. Today, Hyekyung Lee is recognized as one of Korea’s outstanding musicians with her wide concert repertoire from baroque to contemporary. In 1984 she received the ‘Critic’s Prize’ from the Korea Music Pen Club. In 1988 she was named “Musician of the Year” by Dong—a music magazine. In 1998 she received the “Korea Music Award” from the Korea Music Society. In 2004 she received the “Seoul Music Prize” from the Korea Music Critic Association. In 2005 she was in the jury of the Louisiana International Piano Competition, in 2006 she was a guest professor at the Music College in Saarbrücken, Germany. In 2009-11 she was the vice president of the Korea Piano Society.
Cr 110. Hyekyung Lee, Piano. J. S. Bach. Well Tempered Clavier
Hyekyung Lee’s music has taken her to 4 continents. She has performed at Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center in the USA, in Sydney, Vienna, Moscow, Tokyo, Manila and with the the Ulster Orchestra in Northern Ireland, Osaka New Philharmonic Orchestra, Rumania’s Oltahia Orchestra, the Moldovan National Orchestra and Russia’s Ufa Symphony Orchestra. In Korea she plays regularly with the Korea Philharmonic Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed chamber music with the Colorado String Quartet, the New Budapest String Quartet, flautist Patrick Galloy and Maxence Larrieu, trumpeter Stephen Burns, Korea’s top violinist Dong-Suk Kang and the Korean traditional drum quartet Samulnori, among many others. Miss Lee’s career has also brought her in contact with many fine conductors, including Vahktang Jordania, Bernhard Gueller, Barry Wordsworth, Sandro Suturello and Yan Pascal Tortelier.
Hyekyung Lee has recorded more than 10 CDs for “Classical Records” in Moscow. She is a music director of the piano ensemble group “Piano On” and a member of chamber music group CAU Camerata.HyeKyung Lee’s music has been described as “virtuosic fantasy where continuous rhythmic motion smoothly joined contrasting moods and effectively propelled from one section to another”…. show[ing] a penchant for colorful timbres, expressive lines, and lively rhythmic interaction of instruments”.
An active composer, Lee has written works for diverse genres and media, from toy piano to concertos, and from electronic music to works for children’s choir.In 2017, She received a prestigious, Ambassador Bonnie McElveen-Hunter commission for Maestro Gerard Schwarz and Eastern Music Festival to premiere the following year. Other commissions include Ohio Music Teachers Association, the Renée B. Fisher Piano Competition, the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Bassoon Competition, Diversify the Stand, and Columbus Children’s Choir and Columbus Symphony Youth String Orchestra.She has also completed music for “We Could Be Your Parents, ” a short film by Charlie Anderson; a Cello Concerto for the Hilliard Bach Ensemble; and music for an hour-long multimedia collaboration with the Canaletto Ensemble and media artist, Christian Faur. Recently her music, “Dreaming in Colours” for bassoon and piano was selected for the 2023 Norma Hooks Young Artists International Double Reed Competition. As a pianist, she performs works by other composers as well as her own.One highlight has been a performance of the Hindemith Sonata for Clarinet and Piano with Stanley Drucker at the Great Latin American Clarinet Congress in Lima, Peru, in 2012.
Hye Kyung Baek
Her awards include Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition, Athena Chamber Composition Competition, UnCaged Toy Piano Competition, Renee B. Fisher Composers Award, Harvey Gaul Composition Competition Award (honorable mention), Composers Guild Composition Contest, Delius Composition Contest, and three awards from the International Alliance for Women in Music (includingNancy Van de Vate Prizefor Orchestral Music).
Her music has been presented throughout the world by prestigious ensembles (such as Third Coast Percussion, Sybarite5, Brookyn Rider, ETHEL String Quartet, Mivos String Quartet, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, NOW Ensemble, Brave New Work, Thelema Trio of Belgium), distinguished artists (such as Margaret Leng Tan, Nicolas Horvath, Jefferey Jacob, Igor Lovchinsky, Thomas Rosenkranz, Ronald Van Spaendonck, Marco Antonio Mazzini, Javier Vinasco, Ned McGowen) and herself.
Her music has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer Fund, and residencies at the Villa Montalvo, Djerassi Foundation, Ucross Foundation, Brush Creek Foundation, Virginia Center for the Arts, Millay Colony, Blue Mountain Center, Yaddo, and MacDowell Colony.Her works are available on Pavane, Vienna Modern Masters, Innova, New Ariel, Equilibrium, Capstone, MSR Classics, Mark Custom, Ravello recordings, and SEAMUS CD Series Vol. 8.
An Hyekyung Radio
Born in 1959 in Seoul, Korea, Lee attended Seoul Arts School (Yewon, Yego), and studied at YonSei University in Seoul, the Czech-American Summer Music Institute in Prague, and the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her MM, DMA in composition, and a piano performance certificate.She is Associate Professor of Music at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
Born in 1959 in Seoul, Korea, Lee attended Seoul Arts School (Yewon, Yego), and studied at YonSei University in Seoul, the Czech-American Summer Music Institute in Prague, and the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her MM, DMA in composition, and a piano performance certificate.She is Associate Professor of Music at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.