Pianist Kowoon Lee visited the Kansas Public Radio Live Performance Studio on March 8, 2024, International Women's Day, to play music by women composers from South Korea, Mexico and the United States. A former professor at Washburn University, she now is a professor at Tennessee State University and is a co-founder and member of KC Piano Duo with Fanny Po Sim Head. She's playing a concert at Cottey College in Nevada, Mo., Sunday March 24, 2024, at 3 p.m.
A South Korea-born, USA-based pianist Kowoon Lee made her debut as a concerto soloist at the age of 16 with the Chungnam Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Lee has since performed internationally, including the United States, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Italy, and the Czech Republic, with many orchestras and ensembles, including the Seoul National University Orchestra, the Romanian Banatul Timișoara Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sookmyung Festival Orchestra, the Janacek Concert Chamber Orchestra, the UMKC Conservatory Orchestra, and the Kansas City Ballet.
Dr. Lee earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance (with a Graduate Teaching Assistantship) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City with Dr. Thomas Rosenkranz and Dr. Robert Weirich. She studied at Indiana University (with an Associate Instructorship) for her Master of Music and Performer’s Diploma with Dr. Karen Shaw. Before studying in the United States, she finished her Bachelor of Music from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea, with Dr. Hyesoo Jeon, and graduated from the Chungnam Arts High School with Jinyi Yang.