Dr. Sonia Lee is an award-winning Canadian keyboardist, composer, scholar, educator, and arts advocate. As an artist and speaker she has appeared in more than eighteen countries on four continents. Her performances have been praised by critics as “masterly” (Aliénor News & Notes) and “full of elegance and expression” (Cleveland Classical). She is a laureate of the Mae & Irving Jurow International Harpsichord Competition, the Montréal Baroque Galaxie-CBC Rising Star Competition, the Canadian Music Competitions, and the American Musical Instrument Society William E. Gribbons Award. She holds advanced degrees in music from McGill University and the University of Illinois.
Performing on pianos of all periods, harpsichord, clavichord, and organ, she has appeared as soloist and collaborative artist at numerous festivals, conferences, and venues, among them: Rome Festival, Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival, Early Keyboard Music Cycle of Buenos Aires, Midtown Concerts, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Festival Música Antigua de Costa Rica, Boston Early Music Festival, KEK-Japan Concert Series, the Early Music Colorado Fall Festival, Summerfest Kansas City, the Milwaukee Museum of the Pianoforte, and the National Music Museum of Vermillion, South Dakota. Among the groups she has worked with are: the Classical Chamber Players, La Donna Musicale, Concerto Urbano, Rome Festival Orchestra and Opera, Sinfonia da Camera, Camerata Antiqua Seoul, Les Jeunes Virtuoses de Montréal, Pittsburgh Baroque Ensemble, Musicerend Gezelschap, Amor Musicae, and La Réunion Musicale, of which she is the Founding Artistic Director. As guest conductor, she has appeared with the University of Illinois Collegium Musicum, Dulces Exuviae, and the Phantasie String Orchestra.
Her discography includes premiere recordings of rediscovered music of Antonia Bembo, George Berg, Leopold Kozeluch, Thomas Vincent, and Joseph Weigl on Mark Records, Arabesque Records, and other labels. Her performances have been broadcast on Harmonia/WFIU, WGBH, WQED, WILL-FM, RTHK, and CBC/Radio Canada.
A strong advocate of contemporary music and multidisciplinary projects, she has performed works by such prize-winning composers as Dagmar Feyen, James Dorsa, Kent Holliday, Asako Hirabayashi, Peter Machajdík, Luis Mucillo, and herself. She has held prestigious artist residencies at institutions such as La Napoule Art Foundation, France, and La Piccola Accademia di Montisi, Italy.
As a speaker and educator, Dr. Lee has given guest lectures and master classes internationally. Among the institutions she has visited include: University of Waterloo (Canada), Temple University (U.S.), Millersville University (U.S.), Eastern Illinois University (U.S.), Calvin College (U.S.), Irvine Valley College (U.S.), Universidad de Costa Rica (Costa Rica), Conservatorio Provincial de Música Julián Aguirre (Argentina), and the Tainan National University of the Arts (Taiwan). Her excellence in teaching has been recognized by a number of awards, including the “University of Illinois Teachers Ranked as Excellent.”
Dr. Lee has contributed biographical articles on Claudio Arrau, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Wanda Landowska, August Wenzinger, and Lauritz Melchior to two reference series, “Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century” (Salem Press, 2009) and “Great Lives from History: Latinos” (Salem Press, 2012). In demand as an adjudicator, she has served on competition juries including the Illinois High School Solo and Ensemble Competitions and the Aliénor International Harpsichord Composition Competition. She currently serves as the President and Newsletter Editor of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America. Visit www.sonialeemusic.com.