Violinist Kristin Lee & Pianist Michael Stephen Brown To Perform AMERICAN SKETCHES At Lincoln Center

On Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm, violinist Kristin Lee will perform with pianist Michael Stephen Brown The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's 2024-2025 Season at the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Studio (165 W 65th St., 10th floor).

This performance follows the release of Kristin Lee's debut solo album, American Sketches, on First Hand Records on November 15, 2024. American Sketches reflects the distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history, encompassing both Lee's journey as an American, as well as the journeys of the composers she selected. An accomplished chamber musician, Lee became a member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center after winning The Bowers Program audition and completing the program's three-year residency. She performs at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season.  

For this performance for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Kristin Lee has taken inspiration from the concept of her new album and will perform Praeludium and Allegro by Fritz Kreisler; Sonata No. 4, Children's Day at the Camp Meeting by Charles Ives; Sonata No. 2, Poeme Mystique by Ernst Bloch; Road Movies by John Adams; Concert Fantasy on Themes from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess Op. 19, by Igor Frolov; and Romance Op. 23 by Amy Beach, which can be found on Lee's new album.

A violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique, Kristin Lee enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.” 

American Sketches has a personal resonance for Lee. A native of Seoul, Korea, she emigrated to the U.S. at the age of seven. During her childhood, playing the violin was a refuge from bullying and racism for Kristin – she moved to the U.S. not speaking any English, and felt the violin became her voice. As a foreign-born citizen of the U.S., Lee was compelled to select repertoire for her album American Sketches, which would express her pride in the country she now calls her own. On it, Lee has recorded works by American composers that have a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history.

Of performing her American Sketches program in recital for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Lee says:

“I am deeply honored to present this recital alongside my esteemed colleague, Michael Stephen Brown, at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center,” says Kristin Lee.

“As we approach the 250th anniversary of America in 2026, I've been reflecting on what this nation means to me and how its music captures the essence of its history. This program explores the many facets of American music and its profound influence on the evolution of musical traditions and spiritual roots. My hope is that this evening brings an opportunity for listeners to immerse themselves in the richness, complexity, and joy of American music.”

About Kristin Lee:

As a soloist, Kristin Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Hawai'i Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and many others.

She has performed on the world's finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Steinway Hall's Salon de Virtuosi, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia's World Cafe Live, (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.'s Phillips Collection, and Korea's Kumho Art Gallery.  

For seven years, she was a principal artist of Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair. Lee has also appeared in chamber music programs at Music@Menlo, La Jolla Festival, Medellín Festicámara of Colombia, Moab Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Chamber Music Sedona, Music in the Vineyards, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern of Germany, the Hong Kong Chamber Music Festival and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, among many others.

In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is also a devoted educator. She is on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an Assistant Professor of Violin. She has also been in residence with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the El Sistema Chamber Music Festival of Venezuela, and is a summer faculty member at Music@Menlo's Chamber Music Institute.

Lee is the founding artistic director of Emerald City Music (ECM), a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Since 2015, she has crafted unconventional and captivating programs that have led to Emerald City Music's renown for its eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences. The series was recently deemed "the beacon for the casual-classical movement" (CityArts).

An advocate for living composers, Kristin Lee has collaborated with many of today's prominent composers, including Vivian Fung, Andy Akiho, Patrick Castillo, Jakub Ciupiński, Shobana Raghavan, Steve Coleman, Jeremy Jordan, and more. She made the world premiere recording of Vivian Fung's Violin Concerto, written for her, which won a Juno Award and is available on Naxos. 

Kristin Lee's honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival's Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists' Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation. Her performances have been broadcast on PBS's “Live from Lincoln Center,” the Kennedy Center Honors, WFMT Chicago's “Rising Stars” series, WRTI in Philadelphia, and on WQXR in New York. She also appeared on Perlman in Shanghai, a nationally broadcast PBS documentary that chronicled a historic cross-cultural exchange between the Perlman Music Program and Shanghai Conservatory.

To post a comment, you must register and login.