Voice
South Korean baritone Yongjae Lee is acclaimed for his remarkable versatility and profound artistry across an extensive repertoire, encompassing operatic roles, art songs, and concert works from the Baroque era to contemporary compositions. Celebrated for his commanding stage presence and richly expressive timbre, he has appeared in performances across the United States, Europe, and Asia, captivating audiences with his musical sensitivity and dramatic depth.
Lee’s operatic credits include Gianni Schicchi (title role), Leporello (Don Giovanni), David (L’amico Fritz), Grandpa Moss (The Tender Land), Peters (Hänsel und Gretel), Betto (Gianni Schicchi), and Messenger (La Traviata). His performances have taken him to prestigious venues such as the New Mexico Museum of Art (Santa Fe), Lincoln Center (New York), Kosciuszko Foundation (New York), and opera festivals in Italy and Finland. He has also been featured as soloist in Opera West!’s Timeless Puccini, Passion Project: Opera!, and numerous community and educational outreach productions with Arizona Opera.
In addition to his stage career, Lee is deeply committed to arts education and community engagement. He serves as an Arlyn M. Brewster OperaTunity Teaching Artist and an Arizona Opera Ambassador, bringing opera to schools, libraries, and community centers across Arizona. He has also directed church choirs and worked extensively with young singers, sharing his expertise in vocal technique, diction, and repertoire across diverse genres including opera, art song, musical theater, and popular music.
Lee is a prizewinner at numerous international competitions, including First Prize at the London Classical Music Competition (Voice Professional Winner), Platinum Medalist at the Quebec International Music Competition, Second Prize at the Charleston International 19th Century Music Competition, Third Prize at the Vienna International Classical Singing Competition, and multiple awards at the University of Arizona, where he also won the Distinguished Baritone Concerto Competition Award.
As a scholar, Lee holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice and Opera with a minor in Music Education from the University of Arizona, where he served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant instructing both music majors and non-majors in private voice lessons and general voice courses. His dissertation, “Spanish Echoes: Unraveling the Influence of Spanish Elements in Maurice Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée and Jacques Ibert’s Chansons de Don Quichotte,” explores cross-cultural influence, interpretation, and performance practice. He also earned his Master of Music in Voice Performance from the Manhattan School of Music and both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Voice Performance from Seoul National University.
With his unique combination of international performance experience, pedagogical expertise, and scholarly insight, Dr. Lee brings a distinguished perspective as an adjudicator in voice and opera, dedicated to fostering the growth of emerging artists and celebrating the transformative power of music.
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