Samuel Lee
Conductor
About
Samuel Lee is the winner of the Malko Competition for Young Conductors 2024. Previously, he was awarded first prize winner of the BMI International Conducting Competition in Bucharest and the International Conducting Competition in Taipei. At the end of the 2024/25 season, he completed his tenure as Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony.
Lee’s 2025/26 season includes his conducting debuts with the Iceland Symphony, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Bodensee Philharmonic, Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova as well as returns to the Cincinnati Symphony and Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, as well as the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, where he leads a tour to Japan’s Tokyo Opera City and NHK Hall in Osaka. He also makes his first appearances with the Orquesta Cuidad de Granada and Arctic Philharmonic as soloist and conductor.
Amongst the orchestras Lee has conducted are Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Bamberger Symphoniker, Hamburger Camerata at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Leipziger Symphonieorchester at the Gewandhaus, Symphoniker Hamburg, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt State Orchestra, Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bucharest Symphony Orchestra, Arad Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra and the SAC Festival Orchestra.
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An avid promoter of contemporary music, Lee has conducted premieres by Bryce Dessner, Giuseppe Gallo-Balma and Marc Migó. He was also a conducting fellow with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2021 and 2022.
Lee is an alumnus of Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ Berlin, where he studied viola with Tabea Zimmermann and later, orchestral conducting with Christian Ehwald. Lee completed his studies in orchestral conducting at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Ulrich Windfuhr.
As a violist, Lee has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, Münchener Kammerorchester, Bodensee Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, KBS Symphony and Korean National Symphony orchestras, and at the SchleswigHolstein Music Festival and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Music Festival.
From 2009 until 2017, Lee was the violist of the Novus String Quartet, touring all over the world to venues such as the Berliner Philharmonie, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Kölner Philharmonie and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. He also was the second prize winner of the 61st International Music Competition of ARD Munich, and first prize winner of the Salzburg International Mozart Competition. He served as a viola professor at Hochschule für Musik und Theater ‘Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’ in Leipzig, Germany until 2022.
Schedule
Upcoming Performances
Media
Videos
Maurice Ravel - La Valse
Malko Competition 2024 - Grand Finale
Malko Competition 2024 - Round 1
Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird Suite
Gallery
Contact
General Management
Harrison Parrott
Visit Artist Page
Liz Sam
Director, Artist Management
+44 (0)7769 143 536
liz.sam@harrisonparrott.co.uk
Kaija Lappi
Associate Artist Manager
+44 (0)7880 727 387
kaija.lappi@harrisonparrott.co.uk
South Korea Management
MOC Production
Sam Lee
CEO
+82 (0)2-338-3816
mocproduction@gmail.com
Seoyeon Park
Artist Manager
+82 (0)2-338-7593
seoyeon.park@mocproduction.com