Guest Artists

Guest Artists

Jessica Lee, Violin

Violinist Jessica Lee, the First Prize Winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, was featured in the "Launch Pad" column of The Strad as the magazine's "pick of up-and-coming musicians" for June 2007. Describing her recent recital on the Ravinia Rising Stars series, the Chicago Tribune said: "...Lee's breathtaking dexterity should enchant anyone within hearing distance."

Current engagements for Ms. Lee include a concerto appearance with the Modesto Symphony in California and her debut recital at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, as well as festival appearances at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and Santa Fe Music Festival. Special projects comprise a number of featured performances with dance companies, including Lar Lubovitch, Mikhail Baryshnikov and the Richmond Ballet.

Jessica Lee's 2006 concerto debut at Alice Tully Hall, performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, was broadcast twice on WQXR-FM. Commenting on an April 2007 performance of The Lark Ascending with the Richmond Symphony, her hometown orchestra, the Richmond Times-Dispatch said: "Her performance was flawless."

Other recent recital highlights include Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on the CAG/Winners Series, as well as recitals at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, Caramoor Festival in New York, Asociacion National de Conciertos in Panama and Purdue University. Her recital for the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock was selected by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as one of the "Top Ten Classical Concerts of 2007."

An active chamber musician, Jessica Lee became a member of the Johannes String Quartet in 2006, and she joins the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMS 2 program starting with the 2009-10 season. She has toured frequently with 'Musicians from Marlboro,' including appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston's Gardner Museum, and is a member of the conductor-less string ensemble ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), with which she has performed at Town Hall and the Kennedy Center.

Ms. Lee has also appeared on the Concerti di Mezzogiorno Recital Series at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Festival de Musica de Camera in Lima, Peru and New York's FOCUS! Festival. She has performed as guest soloist with such orchestras as the American Chamber Orchestra, the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Hampton Youth Symphony, and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She has been a participant at the Ravinia Festival's Steans Institute for Young Artists as well as at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

A native of Virginia, Jessica Lee began playing the violin at age three and quickly captured national attention with a feature article in LIFE magazine. Following studies with Weigang Li of the Shanghai Quartet, she was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age fourteen and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree under the tutelage of Robert Mann and Ida Kavafian. In May 2003, she completed her studies with Robert Mann for a Master of Music Degree at the Juilliard School and currently resides in New York.