Dr. Lina Yoo Min Lee is a highly prolific pianist and proactive pedagogue renowned worldwide for her captivating and insightful expressionist style. She has performed extensively both in the US and abroad, gracing prestigious venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Her most recent piano solo recital, "Music by Women," held at Carnegie Hall in October 2022, received high acclaim for her exquisite interpretation of an eclectic program and powerful pianistic virtuosity. Broadcasting her concerts through platforms like WFMT, WQXR, WORT, Medici.tv, and YouTube has further expanded her reach to audiences around the world. Her piano solo digital album, "memories," featuring live performances of works by renowned composers, garnered praise from both the New York Concert Review and MBN, a major broadcasting network in South Korea.
Dr. Lee is also known for her extensive collaborations with internationally renowned singers and instrumentalists as a vivid collaborative pianist. She has not only performed at prestigious venues but also actively engages with underserved communities, sharing her talents and passion for music. Dr. Lee has collaborated with members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, and she is enthusiastic about collaborating across various disciplines with other artists. Her commitment to diverse collaboration led her to participate in numerous music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Stanford Summer Seminar, where she worked with esteemed musicians such as Joaquin Valedepnas, Donald Weilerstein, Hamish Milne, Hung-Kuan Chen, Julian Martin, Anne Epperson, and Virginia Weckstrom.
As a passionate pedagogue and educator, Dr. Lee actively teaches piano and presents her research on an international scale. She has given lectures, masterclasses, workshops, and presentations at prestigious institutions such as Stanford University, the University of Kansas, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Seoul National University in Korea, as well as the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy and the European Piano Teachers Association International Conference. Dr. Lee has also been invited to adjudicate competitions and serve on the juries of national auditions and exams, such as the 2022 Sejong Music Competitions and the Wisconsin MTNA Piano Competitions.
Community engagement and arts outreach hold a special place in Dr. Lee's heart, as she is dedicated to promoting the works of underrepresented and historically marginalized composers. She founded and served as the Artistic Director of the DEIB Festival in Madison, Wisconsin, which focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, as well as leadership, collaboration, and community engagement. Additionally, she actively supports providing high-quality music education and performances to underserved communities and children with disabilities. Dr. Lee regularly teaches piano for communities and is involved with Love in Music, a non-profit organization that offers free opportunities for young children from underserved communities to learn classical instruments through musically trained volunteers using the gift of music as a tool. She was also the Chair of Madison Area Music Educators, a non-profit organization fostering growth and enrichment in the local community's cultural and artistic life.
Dr. Lee's educational background includes training at Walnut Hill School for the Arts and New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School. She holds a B.M. in Piano Performance and M.M. degrees in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where she was awarded various scholarships. She further pursued her studies and earned a D.M.A. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating with the Jeanette Ross Award. Throughout her education, she was inspired by her major teachers, Yong Hi Moon and Jessica Johnson.
Currently, Dr. Lee serves as the Assistant Professor of Piano on the piano faculty at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Before this, she taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as Faculty Lecturer in Piano and at the Peabody Preparatory School of the Johns Hopkins University through the piano pedagogy program.