Oct. 12: Violinist Kristin Lee is Featured Soloist with the Eugene Symphony Conducted by Music Director Alex Prior

Photo by Lauren Desberg available in hi-resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/kristin-lee

Violinist Kristin Lee is Featured Soloist with the
Eugene Symphony on October 12

Performing Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto No. 1
Conducted by Music Director Alex Prior

Sunday, October 12, 2025 at 2pm
The Hult Center | 1 Eugene Center | Eugene, OR
Tickets & Information

Kristin Lee: www.violinistkristinlee.com

Eugene, OR – Violinist Kristin Lee – praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy” – joins the Eugene Symphony and Music Director Alex Prior as the featured soloist in Vivian Fung’s Balinese Gamelan-inspired Violin Concerto No. 1, on Saturday, October 12, 2025 at 2pm in The Hult Center (1 Eugene Center). The concert, titled Fate & Fire, also includes West Side Story Overture by Leonard Bernstein, and Symphony No. 5 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. This is Alex Prior’s first performance with the Eugene Symphony as its new Music Director.

A violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique, Kristin Lee enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.”

Kristin Lee and composer Vivian Fung have enjoyed a long musical friendship, even traveling to Bali together when doing research for this concerto. Lee says, “I’m thrilled to be making my debut with the Eugene Symphony and to share Vivian’s music in this new collaboration. This concerto holds so many memories, especially since it was the first time I’ve worked so closely with a composer. It's been incredibly rewarding to watch the piece evolve through the years and to watch it take on its own journey! Vivian’s voice is so distinct, and it’s remarkable to see how strongly it resonates with everyone who hears it.”

“My Violin Concerto brings together my influence by non-Western traditional music, especially Balinese gamelan music, and my friendship with violinist Kristin Lee,“ says Fung. “The gamelan sonorities ringing through my head were a natural inspiration for me, but just as meaningful was Kristin’s desire to come with me for part of the Bali tour. She wanted to witness first-hand the sounds that have moved me, and wanted to understand where my ideas came from. The concerto draws on the sights, sounds, and memories of Bali that have remained in my heart from the tour, as well as my getting to know Kristin, her firebrand style of playing, and, complementing that, the intense lyricism that she expresses as well.”

Performing on a violin crafted in Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano, in addition to her solo appearances, Kristin Lee tours throughout the world as a member of New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, including in Italy, Croatia, Germany, Taiwan, and across the U.S. Always up for adventure, at the Moab Music Festival in Utah, Lee has performed in such unexpected places as rafting down the Colorado River, in a natural rock grotto, and in the magical landscape of the red rock canyons of the area.

Kristin Lee’s debut solo album, American Sketches – released in summer 2024 on the First Hand Records – embraces the beauty of cultural diversity in the U.S. The album has a personal resonance for Lee. A native of Seoul, Korea, she emigrated to the U.S. at the age of seven. During her childhood, playing the violin was a refuge from bullying and racism for Kristin – she moved to the U.S. not speaking any English, and felt the violin became her voice. As a foreign-born citizen of the U.S., Lee was compelled to select repertoire for the album that would express her pride in the country she now calls her own. She has recorded works by American composers including Amy Beach, George Gershwin, Theolonius Monk, Scott Joplin, and more, that have a distinct and recognizable sound of American music and its rich history.

As a soloist, Kristin Lee has appeared with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hawai’i Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum, the Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. In 2026, she makes her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall performing her program American Sketches with pianist John Novacek. An accomplished chamber musician, Kristin Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing regularly in New York at Lincoln Center and on tour. In addition to her prolific performance career, Lee is a devoted educator. She has served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and she has also been in residence with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, the El Sistema Chamber Music Festival of Venezuela, and is a summer faculty member at Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. Lee is also the founding artistic director of Emerald City Music (ECM), a chamber music series that presents authentically unique concert experiences and bridges the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities of the Puget Sound region of Washington State.

Kristin Lee’s honors include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, top prizes in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions, and awards from the Trondheim Chamber Music Competition, Trio di Trieste Premio International Competition, the SYLFF Fellowship, Dorothy DeLay Scholarship, the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, the New Jersey Young Artists’ Competition, and the Salon de Virtuosi Scholarship Foundation.

Born in Seoul, Lee moved to the United States and studied under prestigious teachers including Sonja Foster, Catherine Cho, Dorothy DeLay, Donald Weilerstein, and Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School. Lee’s violin was crafted in Naples, Italy in 1759 by Gennaro Gagliano and is generously loaned to her by Paul & Linda Gridley.

For more information, visit www.violinistkristinlee.com.

For Calendar Editors:

Description: Violinist Kristin Lee, praised in The Strad for her “elegance” and “vivacity and electric energy,” will be the featured soloist with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Alex Prior, in Vivian Fung’s Balinese Gamelan-inspired Violin Concerto No. 1, which turns to the sonorities of the Balinese gamelan, as well as the natural sights, sounds and Fung’s memories of Bali for inspiration. The concert, titled Fate & Fire, also includes West Side Story Overture by Leonard Bernstein, and Symphony No. 5 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Concert details:

Who: Violinist Kristin Lee
Soloist with Eugene Symphony in Violin Concerto No. 1 by Vivian Fung
Conducted by Music Director Alex Prior
What: Fate & Fire - Featuring Music by Leonard Bernstein, Vivian Fung, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky
When: Sunday, October 12, 2025 at 2pm
Where: The Hult Center, 1 Eugene Center, Eugene, OR 97401
Tickets and information: www.eugenesymphony.org/events/fate-and-fire-oct12-2025