Earl Lee

Earl Lee is a South Korean-born Canadian conductor and cellist, born on 9 December 1983 in Yeosu, South Korea. He began his musical journey at the age of 5 when he started playing the piano, and later took up the cello at age 9. In 1995, his entire family immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, and they subsequently settled in Toronto in 1999, where he began performing as a cellist in the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Demonstrating exceptional talent, Lee was accepted into the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 16, where he studied cello with Orlando Cole and Peter Wiley. After graduating from Curtis in 2005, he earned a master's degree in cello performance at the Juilliard School under the guidance of David Soyer. However, at the age of 24, Lee was diagnosed with focal dystonia, a debilitating neurological condition that significantly impacted his ability to perform as a cellist. Despite seeking treatment from acupuncture specialists in South Korea and experts in Spain, his recovery was slow and unpredictable, leading him to pivot his career towards conducting. He studied conducting with Ignat Solzhenitsyn beginning in 2010 and subsequently earned a master's degree in conducting from the Manhattan School of Music in 2013 under George Manahan. Lee also completed post-graduate conducting studies with Hugh Wolff at the New England Conservatory of Music. His professional career flourished as he served as the RBC Resident Conductor for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 2015 to 2018, followed by an appointment as associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 2018 to 2022. In August 2021, he was named assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in June 2022, he was appointed music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. Among his many accolades, Lee received the 50th Anniversary Heinz Unger Award from the Ontario Arts Council in 2018, recognizing him as one of Canada's most promising emerging conductors. He was also awarded the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship in 2013 by conductor Kurt Masur, which led to him studying the life and music of the composer in Leipzig. Additionally, he received the Ansbacher Fellowship from the American Austrian Foundation and members of the Vienna Philharmonic, resulting in a six-week residency at the prestigious Salzburg Festival, further cementing his reputation as a rising star in the international conducting world.