Cellist Sydney Lee made her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at age 13. Since then, she captured first prize in 10th International Cello Competition, ‘Antonio Janigro,’ debuting with Zagreb Soloists the following year. For the 2019-20 season, Ms. Lee was appointed principal cellist of The Curtis Symphony Orchestra, leading the section on their United States Tour. Most recently, Ms. Lee was selected as a 2020 grantee from the U.S. Presidential Scholars Foundation and Alumni Association Seed Grant Program. Ms. Lee was selected as an active participant in CelloAkademie Rutesheim and Kronberg Academy cello masterclasses and a Scholar at the Internationale Musikakademie Liechtenstein. A National YoungArts finalist, Ms. Lee was named a 2015 US Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. Moreover, she was the recipient of the 2015 Korean Honors Scholarship, awarded by the South Korean Embassy in Washington D.C.

Ms. Lee’s playing has been influenced by studies with Soo Lee, Sophie Shao, Minhye Clara Kim, Julie Albers, Richard Aaron, and the mentorship of American cellist Lynn Harrell. The Emily W. Sunstein Annual Fellow, Ms. Lee is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Peter Wiley and Carter Brey. As the recipient of the Eckstein Scholarship, she will be pursuing her Master’s Degree at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University with Hans Jørgen Jensen.