Pianist Myong-Joo Lee has been praised for her “shapely, expressive, songful performances that conveyed the composer’s emotional world,” and for her ability to “avoid virtuosic emptiness by placing phrases in context, sustaining crystalline sonorities…” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Her playing has also been lauded for “a freshness and idiomatic rightness… a refinement that never neglected the stylized dance elements” (Arts & Letters, The Star).
A top prizewinner in numerous national and international competitions, Lee earned First Prize at the Pro Piano Artist Series Competition in New York and the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition. She has also been awarded prizes at the Guild International Piano Competition, Johanna Hodge International Piano Competition, the Cleveland International Piano Competition and the Chopin Kosciuszko Foundation Piano Competition, among others.
As a recitalist, Lee has performed in major venues including Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Frick Collection, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art, Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Seoul Arts Center, and Young-San Art Hall in Korea. Her orchestral engagements include appearances with the Romanian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, Memphis Chamber Orchestra, and Sewanee Festival Orchestra, with performances broadcast on WQXR (New York) and WCLV (Cleveland).
Lee is in demand internationally as a teacher, adjudicator, and clinician. She has given masterclasses and workshops across the U.S., Asia, and Europe and has been a guest artist at music festivals such as the Art of the Piano at the University of Cincinnati, Jeju International Piano Festival (Korea), Taiwan International Piano Festival, and Music Fest Perugia (Italy). She frequently serves on juries for prestigious national and international competitions.
Her students, both at the pre-college and collegiate levels, have consistently won top prizes at major competitions including the Cooper International Piano Competition, Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Virginia Waring International Piano Competition, From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, Los Angeles Philharmonic Bronislaw Kaper Award, Blount Slawson Young Artist Competition, Mondavi Young Artist Competition, MTNA National Competitions, and the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition.
Lee holds BM and MM degrees from Indiana University and earned her DMA from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where she was Teaching Assistant to the renowned pianist John Perry. Her principal teachers have included Paul Schenly, Michel Block, Zadel Skolovsky, Sergei Babayan and Leonard Hokanson and have also worked with Claude Frank and Richard Goode.Lee is currently on the piano faculty at California State University, Fullerton, and serves as Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Piano Sessions in British Columbia, Canada. She has also held teaching positions at the University of Puget Sound, USC Thornton School of Music, and the Colburn Music Academy at The Colburn School in Los Angeles.