Hyunmi Lee
Hyunmi Lee, born in Korea in 1981, started her studies in piano at the age of four. In 1989 she received a Special Mention in the International Junior Music Competition in Seoul, followed two years later by the Gold Medal at the National Student Piano Competition, also held in the capitol. She kept competing - and receiving awards - in regional and national competitions until 2000, when she entered Kyung Hee University Music School, to study under the supervision of Dr. Young-hye Chun. In 2002 she went on a four-hand piano tour, performing in Seoul Young-san Art Hall and the Pusan Cultural Center. In 2004, she won the Second Prize in the University’s Concerto Competition, and graduated from her BM in Piano the following year. She then travelled to the United States to pursue graduate studies with Dr. Paul Rutman at the Hartt School of Music of the University of Hartford, where she obtained her Graduate Professional Diploma in 2008. She earned her Master’s Degree at DePaul University in 2012, followed by a Post-Master’s Certificate in Performance with Professor George Vatchnadze in 2014. She worked as an apprentice coach at the Chicago Opera Theater in 2009. She works for the Arizona Opera as a freelance collaborative pianist. In 2018, she worked a faculty member at the Arizona School for the Arts in Phoenix, AZ, teaching Piano and Choir. Currently, she is working as the Choir Director at First Presbyterian Church in Peoria, as well as an accompanist at the Sounds of the Southwest Singers and SSWS Chorale.
