Violinist Byungchan Lee is a sought-after performer in solo, chamber, and orchestral concerts on the international stage. First garnering global attention as prizewinner of the inaugural 2009 Yuri Yankelevitch International Violin Competition, he was selected as one of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Next!” classical music stars in 2015 and was subsequently named one of their “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” in 2017.  Lee has played alongside Stevie Wonder at the Bell Centre in Montreal. He has been featured in The Strad and La Scena Musicale, and heard on CBC/Radio-Canada, ICI Musique, The New Classical FM, and BBC Radio 3 (UK). 

Lee has performed as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony Orchestra as winner of the McGill Concerto Competition, I Medici di McGill (Montreal), and Prairie Virtuosi (Saskatoon). 

Passionate about collaboration, Lee has performed with such ensembles as Juilliard415 (New York), Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra (Los Angeles), New York Classical Players, Kinetic (Houston), Amici (Toronto), and Art of Time (Toronto).  Additionally he has participated in numerous festivals including Aspen Music Festival, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Master Class Series at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre, Music Master’s Course Japan, McGill International String Quartet Academy, and Toronto Summer Music. 

As an orchestral musician Lee has served as concertmaster of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra at the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, and has since appeared as co-concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra from 2017-2018 and also led the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra as co-principal violin.  Recently, he has performed with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra where currently he is on trial for the position of principal second violin. 

Lee plays on an 1869 Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin and bow on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. 

Lee received his Master of Music in 2018 from The Juilliard School graduating with a Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant for artistic merit and leadership.  He received his Bachelor of Music in 2015 and Artist Diploma in 2016 from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, where he was recipient of the Lloyd Carr-Harris Scholarship and the Golden Violin Award – Canada’s largest collegiate music prize.  In 2019, Lee was selected for the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music.