May 22: Violinist Kristin Lee Soloist with the Olympia Symphony Performing Music by Astor Piazzolla Conducted by Adam Johnson

Violinist Kristin Lee performs as soloist with the Olympia Symphony

in Astor Piazzolla’s
Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

Conducted by Adam Johnson

 
Photo by Lauren Desberg available in hi-resolution at https://www.jensenartists.com/kristin-lee  

Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 3pm
Washington Center for the Performing Arts
512 Washington St. SE | Olympia, WA 

Tickets and more information:
https://www.olympiasymphony.org/may 

Kristin Lee: www.violinistkristinlee.com

Olympia, WA – On Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 3pm, violinist Kristin Lee will be the featured violin soloist with the Olympia Symphony, led by conductor Adam Johnson at Washington Center for the Performing Arts (512 Washington St. SE). Lee will perform Astor Piazzolla’s virtuosic Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (Four Seasons of Buenos Aires). The program also includes Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont, Op. 84, and Franck’s Symphony in D minor.

Composed in the 1960s, The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was originally written by Piazzolla for piano, violin, bandoneón, electric guitar, and bass. Each movement is inspired by a different season of the year in Buenos Aires, written in Piazzolla’s signature tango style while also paying homage to Vivaldi’s well-known work, The Four Seasons. The four movements were not initially conceived as a unified concept, nor were they composed all together.

Lee had this to say about performing with the Olympia Symphony:

"I am beyond excited and thrilled to be taking the stage with the Olympia Symphony later this month. I have been fortunate to build a relationship with the Olympia community through Emerald City Music –  a chamber music organization which I co-founded six years ago –– so this opportunity to represent to our city that the symphony and chamber music support one another will be a true testament. The Olympia community is truly a special one, so I’m excited to celebrate the joy of music through Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires!" 

Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. She also serves as Artistic Director of Emerald City Music, which presents eclectic, intimate, and vibrant classical chamber music experiences in the Pacific Northwest, including in Olympia at the Minnaert Center.

Lee is a recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-­Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the­-mill instrumentalists from true artists.”

Kristin Lee has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nordic Chamber Orchestra of Sweden, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic, and many others. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Steinway Hall’s Salon de Virtuosi, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Ravinia Festival, Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live, (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York, the Louvre Museum in Paris, Washington, D.C.’s Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing at Lincoln Center in New York and on tour with CMS throughout each season, as well as a member of Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair. She is an Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. 

Recent and upcoming highlights include concerts presented by the San Francisco Symphony with Itzhak Perlman, Amarillo Symphony, Chamber Music Sedona, a tour with the Silk Road Ensemble, Music@Menlo, Parlance Chamber Concerts, Moab Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Town Hall Seattle, Lyra Music Festival, Olympic Music Festival, North Carolina New Music Initiative, and the Leicester International Music Festival, as well as performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Camerata Pacifica.

Lee’s many honors include awards from the 2015 Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, 2011 Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation. She is also the unprecedented First Prize winner of three concerto competitions at The Juilliard School – in the Pre-­College Division in 1997 and 1999, and in the College Division in 2007.

Born in Seoul, Lee began studying the violin at the age of five, and within one year won First Prize at the prestigious Korea Times Violin Competition. In 1995, she moved to the United States and continued her musical studies under Sonja Foster. Two years later, she became a student of Catherine Cho and Dorothy DeLay in The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division. In January 2000, she was chosen to study with Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School. For more information, visit www.violinistkristinlee.com.

About the Olympia Symphony: The Olympia Symphony is a semi-professional orchestra based in Olympia, Washington, that serves the South Puget Sound region. Their mission is to enrich, educate, and entertain through performances, outreach, and collaboration. The orchestra gave its first concert in 1947. Over time, the OSO has grown to become the premiere orchestra in the South Sound, acclaimed for its commitment to both community and artistic excellence. This concert will be the conclusion of their Music Director Search, featuring four internationally acclaimed conductors from around the world. The new Olympia Symphony Music Director will be announced in June 2022.