Program Books/JOSEPHINE LEE

JOSEPHINE LEE

JOSEPHINE LEE is an acclaimed conductor, pianist, singer, producer and nonprofit leader She serves as the president and artistic director of Chicago Children’s Choir (CCC), where she has revolutionized the field of youth choral music through cutting-edge performances of diverse repertoire and innovative collaborations with world-class artists. Through her vision and leadership, Lee has established CCC as one of Chicago’s premier cultural institutions, solidifying partnerships with renowned arts organizations that include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Ravinia Festival, and directing and developing new works. Delivering a “sensuous and bluesy” performance (The New York Times), Lee appeared in the 2018 world premiere of Pulitzer Prize finalist Ted Hearne’s Place, which played to critical acclaim at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. Other projects of note include the development and world premiere of Long Way Home, a fully staged theatrical work with the Q Brothers Collective, which played to five sold-out performances in March 2018; an original suite for piano and cello, Ascension, commissioned by Ballet Chi­cago; an original piano composition, The Good Goodbyes, commissioned by Frank Chaves and River North Dance Chicago; and the co-creation of the original world musical Sita Ram with David Kersnar of Lookingglass Theatre, which enjoyed sold-out performances in its 2012 remount. Lee was also a collaborator on Chance the Rapper’s Grammy Award-winning Coloring Book and led choruses in studio recordings for the album and tour performances in 2016. In recognition of her leadership of Chicago Children’s Choir, she received the Kennedy Center’s National Committee for the Per­forming Arts Award for Arts Advocacy in 2018; other honors include the Roman Nomitch Fellowship in 2012 to attend the Har­vard Business School’s Strategic Perspec­tives in Nonprofit Manage­ment program and the 2014 Jesse L Rosenberger Medal from the University of Chicago. Lee was recently featured in “The Transformative Power of Music,” a segment on the Oprah Winfrey Network’s acclaimed program, Super Soul Sunday.