Jessica Chaeyeon Lee

I started off my music career in kindergarten with the piano. Starting off young with music at a young age, it has always been a huge part of my life, and I grew to appreciate it more and more as I got older. Playing the piano, I felt left out from all my other friends who were in orchestras, playing together in groups. I was able to see that collaboration and working together is a huge part of music, and although pianos are in orchestras, playing a string instrument soon became my dream. Around the same time, I attended a piano recital at Carnegie Hall, a violist went before me. Without hesitation I became mesmerized by the rich sound the viola was able to make. In fourth grade, after a lot of begging, I convinced my parents to let me switch over to the viola, and that is where it all really started. Ever since, my love for the viola has only grown, and is one of the only things I can rely on and go to when I’m feeling all sorts of emotions.

You can find Jessica’s 2022 18th Century Music Competition viola performance here.