Grammy® nominated, clarinetist Seunghee Lee (aka Sunny Kang) is a multi-faceted recording artist, a TEDx speaker, and a music entrepreneur based in New York City. Ms. Lee has recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, and she has been recognized by the Clarinet Magazine as “an uncompromising soloist, destined to be an upcoming contender of top stature”.
Ms. Lee’s multiple solo albums were featured as “CD of the Week” worldwide at Classic FM Nederland, Symphony 92.4 (Singapore), at Fine Music Radio in Cape Town (South Africa) to name a few. Upon the release of her debut album BRAVA (2000), produced by multi-Grammy Award-winning producer Joanna Nickrenz together with recording engineer Marc Aubort, she was included in ‘Top 30 Classical Stars Under 30’ at KDFC Classical Radio in San Francisco. Her recordings have gained numerous air-plays around the world including at New York’s WQXR, KDFC, KUSC, “Girl Power” at WRR 101 (Dallas/Fort Worth), WFMT (Chicago), NPR among many others.
Ms. Lee is the founder of Musica Solis, an independent classical record label, sheet music publisher, and a creative concert presenter based in New York City. Through the artist consulting initiative, Ms. Lee aims to guide and mentor emerging classical musicians to become independent entrepreneurial leaders of their generation. She is a frequent guest lecturer on the topic of Music Entrepreneurship and has appeared as a guest speaker at Harvard Business School at the 2019 Asia Business Conference titled, “The Game Changers”, the 2019 Yale Alumni Association Career Panel topic on “Careers in Music”, Eastman School of Music, Seoul National University, Juilliard Pre-College, and among many others. As a visiting professor, she enjoys performing solo recitals, giving masterclasses on the topic of shifting your mindset, and presenting her signature lecture series titled, “You are the Company”.
Encouraged by many requests for the sheet music to her arrangements, Ms. Lee published HIDDEN TREASURES Sheet Music Book (CD Included) and EMBRACE Sheet Music Book which are available here and on Amazon.
At her core, Ms. Lee is passionate about using her music to bring comfort and healing to those silently suffering from personal tragedies. She is also the founder of CONCERT FOR CAUSE an intimate home concert series dedicated to shining a light on current humanitarian issues and on worthy organizations working to resolve them. Ms. Lee believes that each individual can contribute to the betterment of our society, and she is devoted to using the power of music as a catalyst to awaken the goodness and the philanthropic hearts inside everyone. In short, she believes in making a difference, one concert at a time.
Ms. Seunghee Lee received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Charles Neidich and Eli Eban, and her Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, studying with David Shifrin. Ms. Lee feels privileged to have also studied with Peter Hadcock, Fred Ormand, George Silfies, Howard Klug, Laurie DeLuca, Mary Beth Skaggs, and John Bruce Yeh of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Lee has performed at prestigious venues throughout Europe, Asia, U.S, including at Hollywood Bowl, Ravinia, Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago’s Cultural Center, and a sold-out recital debut at Carnegie Hall. Her collection of awards and competitions include the First Prize at the International Clarinet Association Competition, Winner of the Saint Louis Symphony Young Artist Competition, judged by Leonard Slatkin; Winner of the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, the Yale Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition, and the Yale’s Charles Ives Award. In her youth, she was selected as one of only three American clarinetists to represent the United States for the historic 1990 American-Soviet Youth Orchestra World Tour, with conductor Leonard Slatkin and violinist Joshua Bell. As a soloist, Ms. Lee has performed worldwide including with the Saint Louis Symphony, Gyor Symphonic Orchestra of Hungary, Orchestra “A. Vivaldi” di Valle Camonica, the Metropolitan Symphony of Minneapolis, the Jupiter Symphony, the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series in Chicago’s Cultural Center, to name a few. She served as the principal clarinetist of the Pucheon Philharmonic in South Korea from 1993– 1995.
As a voting member of the Recording Academy, Ms. Lee is an elected Board of Governors of the New York Chapter. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the Yale School of Music as well as the Concert Artists Guild, and in May 2024, she was invited to join the Global Council of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City.
Also, a highly skilled golfer, known as “Sunny Kang” in the golf world, she was featured in Hong Kong Golfer Magazine and spoke at TEDx Hong Kong about the surprising similarities between golf and classical music and the mental challenges of viewing both skills through the lens of a perfectionist.
Seunghee Lee plays on Buffet Prestige R13, Vandoren V12 reeds, Vandoren B40Lyre mouthpiece with Silverstein Hexa Ligature. She is a proud member of the Silverstein Inspiring Pro.
