Biography
Jessica Lee, named by
Seoul Broadcasting System News (SBS News)
as a “musical prodigy who
communicates with the world through music”
“
Seoul Broadcasting System News (SBS News)
MUSIC EDUCATION NEWS HIGHLIGHTED
JESSICA LEE’S DEBUT COMPOSITION RECITAL
AT LOTTE CONCERT HALL,
ONE OF SOUTH KOREA’S LARGEST CONCERT HALLS
AT THE AGE OF FIFTEEN
“
MUSIC EDUCATION NEWS, KOREA
Jessica Yaerim Lee is a Korean-Canadian composer and pianist based in New York and Seoul.
Her solo, chamber, and orchestral music develops compact musical cells through imitation, counterpoint, fragmentation, and chromatic transformation. Independent voices collide, exchange functions, and return in altered forms, generating larger dramatic structures through their changing relationships.
Drawing on Renaissance polyphony, Impressionist sonority, and Korean cultural memory, Jessica treats instrumental color as a structural force, allowing shifts in register, resonance, and density to shape the music’s direction.
Jessica’s commissions and performances encompass orchestral, chamber, and solo works. An orchestral work commissioned by Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) was recorded by the Lyum Chamber Orchestra. In 2026, the New Music Workshop at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival–Yale Summer School of Music commissioned and premiered at the Norfolk Music Shed. Her other 2026
commissions include works for TEMPO Ensemble and The Astra Collective, alongside a new ensemble work commissioned for premiere by the Mannes American Composers Ensemble (MACE). Her orchestral work The Epic of the Wild Forest has received recognition in several composition competitions.
Jessica’s music has been presented at Lotte Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Kumho Art Hall, Sejong Chamber Hall, Stiefel Hall, and Elebash Recital Hall. In January 2023, she presented a recital at Lotte Concert Hall devoted entirely to her original solo and chamber music, appearing as both composer and pianist. A further composition-and-piano recital is scheduled at Elebash Recital Hall in December 2026.
Active as both a composer and pianist with MACE, Jessica has performed with the ensemble at John L. Tishman Auditorium. She has also appeared with the Mannes Orchestra in a program featuring The
Westerlies at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. Her experience on piano, celesta, violin, and percussion informs her approach to instrumental writing, particularly the relationship between articulation, resonance, physical gesture, and ensemble balance. Working closely with musicians, she
develops her scores through the exchange between compositional intention and the discoveries of rehearsal.
Jessica’s honors include First Prize at the 2024 Busan MARU International Music Festival Composition Competition, Absolute First Prize at the 2024 UK International Music Competition, and Absolute Winner of the 2024 BACH International Music Composition Competition. In 2021, she received First Prize in Chamber Music at the Vienna International Composer Award and the
Promising Young Composer distinction at the Vienna Classical Music Academy Competition.
As a pianist, Jessica Yaerim Lee combines solo and chamber performance with an active practice as a composer and improviser. Based in New York, she has appeared at Lotte Concert Hall and Seoul Arts Center, with ensemble engagements at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, and John L. Tishman Auditorium. The performance of her own works is a defining feature of her recital activity, bringing composition and interpretation together at the keyboard.
Highlights of Jessica’s 2026 season include a forthcoming piano recital at Elebash Recital Hall in December and appearances with the Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall in a program featuring The Westerlies. She is currently a pianist with the Mannes American Composers Ensemble (MACE), with which she has performed at John L. Tishman Auditorium. Her ensemble work encompasses both piano and celesta, with a particular interest in contemporary repertoire and chamber collaboration.
In February 2026, Jessica appeared at Stiefel Hall in a Mannes Sounds Festival faculty concert as pianist, improviser, and composer.
She has also worked as an ensemble leader, arranger, and keyboardist across classical chamber music, jazz, and interdisciplinary projects. Her approach to collaboration places particular emphasis on the exchange of musical ideas, the shaping of shared phrases, and the interplay of instrumental voices. In 2026, she also presented the Jessica Sextet–YOUnity Classical and Jazz Concert at Arnhold Hall, bringing together her interests in classical performance, jazz, and improvisation including her original tunes. These engagements reflect the breadth of her work across solo, chamber, and ensemble settings
