Yoon Kuk Lee
accepted the assignment in 1992 of establishing the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic, gathering young professional musicians around him in order to introduce a new chamber orchestra to the European music scene.
Biography
Born and raised in South Korea, Yoon Kuk Lee received his earliest musical training from his mother. At the age of 13, he accompanied his mother to America where, upon graduating from high school in New York, he enrolled at Williams College where he had his first conducting experiences - with the Williams College Orchestra.
In 1976, he graduated with honors and travelled to Austria, where he continued his studies in conducting and composition at the Salzburg “Mozarteum” with renowned teachers such as Sandor Vegh, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Herbert von Karajan. One of Lee´s early successes as a composer was winning the highest prize in the 1982 Austria Radio (ORF) competition, which led to public concerts and radio broadcasts of his music. Several years later, Lee accepted a teaching position at the Salzburg “Mozarteum”, where he is a faculty member still today.
Guest Conductor
Since 1987, he has appeared with the following orchestras:
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra
Finlandia Sinfonia
The Ukrainian National Symphony
The St. Petersburg Camerata
The KBS Symphony Orchestra of Korea
The Prague Talich Chamber Orchestra
The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
Prague Chamber Symphony
The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
State Symphony Orchestra of Saloniki
Serbian Philharmonic Orchestra
Dae Jeon Philharmonic Orchestra
Oxford Chamber Orchestra
The Korean Symphony Orchestra
The Enesco Philharmonic Bucharest
The Korean Chamber Orchestra
Professional Stations
| 1982 - 1992: | Artistic Director of Sinfonietta Salzburg |
| 1999 - 2003: | Artistic Director of Austro-Korean Philharmonie |
| 2002 - 2005: | Artistic Director of Festival Echternach (Luxembourg) Chamber Orchestra |
CDs
Between 1996 and 1999, he worked on the project – together with pianist Cyprien Katsaris - of performing and recording the complete works for piano and orchestra by Mozart (not only the piano concertos), the first edition of this kind in recording history. It resulted in the production of 15 CDs under the label Piano 21.
His highly acclaimed recording of C.P.E Bach Sinfonias with Naxos brought worldwide recognition. This production was chosen as one of the 10 best new releases by the CD magazine “Gramophone” and by WQXR FM radio station of New York.
Soloists
Numerous well-known soloists have shared the stage with Lee, including
Mischa Maisky
Edith Mathis
Diana Damrau
Grace Bumbry
Pierre Amoyal
Irena Grafenauer
Guy Touvron
Sergei Nakajarkov
Cyprien Katsaris
Eung - Gu Kim
Ingrid Haebler
Wolfgang Schulz
Michel Dalberto
Paul Badura-Skoda
Radovan Vlatkovic
Ruth Ziesak
to name but a few ...
| 
| 