Canadian-American violinist Christel Lee won First Prize at the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki in 2015, becoming the first North American laureate in the competition’s fifty-year history. In December of the same year, she was invited to perform with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Chief Conductor John Storgårds on a tour to Birmingham and Dublin celebrating the 150th anniversary of Jean Sibelius’ birth. Her success in Helsinki was preceded by numerous accolades, including Second Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2013 International ARD Competition in Munich. Her interpretations have been highly praised by critics for their intensity, technical precision, and emotional depth.
As a soloist, Christel Lee has performed with renowned orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Korean Symphony, the KBS Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, and the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart. Alongside her solo career, she is a passionate chamber musician who regularly collaborates with leading artists of her generation. She is regularly invited to festivals across Europe, Asia, and North America. Among her recent highlights is the world premiere of a newly commissioned Double Concerto for Violin and Cello by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho, written for her and cellist Jonathan Roozeman.
Christel Lee, whose family has Korean roots, was born in Bloomington and began playing the violin at the age of five in Vancouver, Canada. She later moved to New York City, attended the Professional Children’s School, and graduated from the Juilliard School in 2011. She subsequently continued her studies at the Kronberg Academy and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich under Ana Chumachenco. In addition to her career as a performer, Lee is deeply committed to music education and the development of young talent. Since 2024, she has been Professor of Violin at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. She plays a 1770 violin by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi, generously made available to her from a private collection.
