Korean American Cellist David Lee was born in LA, United States, and later in South Korea, he studied with Cellists Domzal Jaroslaw, John Koen, and Kyung-suk Park. He was selected for membership in the Daegu Genius Youth Orchestra and participated in its concert tour with performances at Philadephia’s Kimmel Center and in New York City at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. He has participated in numerous young artist music competitions, taking First Prizes in the competition of the Gyeongbuk Arts, the Junior Cello Competition of the Music Association of Korea, and the Junior Competition of Eumak-Chunchu in Seoul.

Mr. Lee also won First Prize at the TBC Concours, earning a performance with the Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory studying with Darrett Adkins, and had the honor to win First Prize at the Oberlin Conservatory Concerto Competition. As a result of the competition, Mr. Lee was invited to perform the Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante with Oberlin Orchestra conducted by Raphael Jimenez in 2022. In the United States and abroad, Lee’s success has continued in numerous music competitions. He was invited to the Czech Republic to participate and perform in the first round of the Prague Spring International Music Competition, and he took home the Gold Prize and Agnew Bach Prize from the Cleveland Cello Society Competition.

For two years Mr. Lee served in the Korean Army Band as both a trumpet player and squad leader of the band. Expanding his varied musical interests, David also organized, directed, arranged and performed pop music for the Pop Music Band’s multiple performing tours across Korea. During the 2022-23 season in New York, he served as a teacher for the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center’s “Meet the Music Instrument Petting Zoos” held frequently at Lincoln Center.

Mr. Lee was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Juilliard School for a Master of Music degree studying with Joel Krosnick. During this time he won Frist Prize at the 16th LISMA Competition, New York International Young Musician Competition and Fanny Mendelssohn International Competition. In addition he won Grand Prize at the Prodigy International Music Competition, and the Second prize in the American Virtuoso International Competition.

Mr. Lee was raised in an environment of musical educators, and is passionate about teaching and sharing his musical knowledge with the next generation.