Born in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Lee started learning how to play piano at the age of four taught by her mother at first.
Two years later she won her first gold medal at the national piano competition and went on to win the Korea daily newspaper, Dong-A daily newspaper, and National music institution competition, which are some of the most prestigious piano competitions in Korea.
When she was in junior high, she had an opportunity to get European style training when she attended Summer Academy “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria, and studied with Professor Christoph Lieske .
She attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and obtained her Master's degree after studying with Professor Mack McCray and Professor Justin Blasdale. She has also appeared in masterclasses with Professor Jin-Woo Jung, Daniel Pollack, Sharon Mann, and Harpsichord Professor Laurett Goldberg. She has studied instrumental and vocal accompanying with Professor Tim Bach at the Conservatory and she also privately studied opera coaching/vocal accompanying with Professor Marcie Stapp, 2002-2007
She has performed many times as a soloist and an accompanist:
Her piano performances were featured in a vocal ensemble, chamber music ensemble, solo recitals, piano & guitar duo concert with guitarists Florante Aguilar & Michael Walsh, September 2004.
She also worked as an opera rehearsal and concert accompanist with Golden Gate Opera in 2002 (Carmen), Golden West Opera in 2004-2005 (Madama Butterfly), Eastbay Aria Club in 2007-2009 (Cosi fan tutti, Don Giovanni), Peninsula Teen Opera in 2008, San Francisco Boys Chorus in 2006-2007, San Francisco Girls Chorus in 2007, Mayflower Community Chorus in 2001-2002, San Francis Drake high school Chorus and many professional opera singers.
She also taught music in the Redwood City school district and classical piano at East Bay Center of Performing Art, Northern California Music & Art center, and at Marin Country Day School, Corte Madera, CA during 2004-2009.
Many of her students have made the honor rolls on Certificate of Merit, statewide evaluation in California, and many of her advanced level students were chosen to play for MTAC- SF branch festival concert every year 2008-2017.
Spring 2017, her love of Piazzolla music lead her to discover in-depth the beauty, passion, and complexity of Argentine tango music in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a live audition, she got accepted as a pianist for the prestigious tango orchestra school, " La Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce" 14th batch and performed through rigorous 2-year training that was taught by world-renowned tango musicians and teachers such as Víctor Lavallén, Ignacio Varchausky, Cristian Asato, Ramiro Boero, Guillermo Rubino, Patricio Cotella and many living maestros guest including Jose Pepe Colangelo, Osvaldo Piro, Roberto Alvarez, Daniel Binelli, Mauricio Marceli, Nicolas Ledesma, and many more. The last concert with "La Orquesta Escuela de Emilio Balcarce" at Teatro General San Martin in Buenos Aires was sold out to a large audience and aired live via national radio 2*4 and TV Publica Argentina.
Since moving back to the Bay Area in 2019 after receiving her diploma, she is actively performing and producing Traditional and Contemporary Argentine tango concerts with her colleagues & various groups in SF, Bay area.
The ensemble groups she formed.
"Corazón Tango" 2019 : Performed in Bay Area and South Korea.
“Las Almas” (Women in tango): Perfoming tango concerts east & west coast such as SF International Arts Festival & Sebastopol Arts since 2020.
"Buena Onda Tango Ensemble: Performing tango concerts in the east & west coast such as Artists Migration & La nuestra festival, NYC since 2021.
"Sumi Lee Collective": Performing contemporary tango concerts with the local and visiting artists who share the similar vision since 2023.
Ms. Lee and her group has performed in Buenos Aires, Seoul, NYC, Philadelphia, Portland, Toronto, Chicago, DC, Cleveland, Champagne-Urbana, Oahu, etc.
She recorded the “Gobbi Inedíto” album, 2018, and currently working on a new album for the Bandoneón & Piano duo of new compositions and solo piano album for 2023-2024. Her new music and recording projects have earned following grants: 2023 Intermusic SF, Musical grant program & 2023 California non-profit grant.
She was a founding member of the international female tango orchestra group, "Solidaridad" during the pandemic 2021-2022.
Lastly, when Ms. returned to Bay Area from Argentina, she realized that the public gets limited exposure to performing artists of diverse cultures, especially in the fields of non-popular music such as Argentine Tango, and musicians do not receive sufficient support unless they have established a name for themselves already. This problem can be further exacerbated if the artists perform a culturally unique genre that is yet to be known to the masses. She believes in cultural diversity and equal opportunity for all art forms, and she is enthused about supporting talented local and visiting guest artists from all around the world to provide local audiences with diverse music programs in high-quality, live performances. She organizes live tango music performances in the Bay Area through Golden Gate Int’l Artists. If you are interested in supporting local and international artists, please subscribe to www.ggiartists.com and join for upcoming tango concerts.
Her other interests include education, technology, women and children's welfare, psychology, flower arrangement, art, travel, language, cooking, hiking, etc...
She is currently serving the non-profit organization Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC), San Francisco as a board of directors for the local community of music teachers and students.
Please kindly email me with your inquiry and follow me on social media for the upcoming concerts.
