THE SCHOLARSHIP HOLDERS
Viola
Hwayoon Lee
Serving as a bridge between art and people, between worlds and generations, Hwayoon Lee has established herself as one of the preeminent violists of her generation through her warm charisma, profound resonance, and natural stage presence.
The narrative breath of Pansori—the traditional Korean vocal art she internalized from the age of three—forms the foundation of her distinctive musical vocabulary. Following early studies with Sang-Jin Kim and Rainer Moog, she completed advanced studies at the Kronberg Academy under Nobuko Imai and earned her Konzertexamen at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) under Hartmut Rohde.
Supported by a close mentorship with Anne-Sophie Mutter since 2011, she has performed on major international stages as principal violist and soloist with Mutter’s Virtuosi. A definitive milestone in her artistic path was performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Bamberg Symphony conducted by Manfred Honeck.
Copyright Photo: Van Gogh Museum-J.Draper
As a soloist, Lee has collaborated with renowned orchestras including the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSB) and the Stuttgart Philharmonic, and receives regular invitations to leading festivals such as the Lucerne Festival and Marlboro Music Festival. Her contributions to cultural diplomacy encompass performances at the UN Headquarters in New York and the official PyeongChang Gala Concert at the Vienna Musikverein.
In contemporary music and interdisciplinary collaborations, she has carved out a unique path: she led the world premiere of Shin-uh Lee’s viola concerto Earth Poemas well as the European premiere of Moon Jar Poem. Originating with the recording of Red Cliff, she conceived projects dismantling the boundaries between music and visual arts, staged at institutions such as the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Leeum Museum in Seoul. She is currently immersed in the project for Yie-eun Chun’s string quartet Kinderszenen, a commissioned work by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
Her discography features recordings on Deutsche Grammophon—including Schubert’s Trout Quintet with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniil Trifonov, alongside André Previn’s Nonet—as well as a solo album in the KBS “Young Korean Artists” series. She was awarded First Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition and the first-ever Grand Prix in the history of the Yuri Bashmet International Viola Competition.
Giving back for the holistic mentorship she received, she draws upon an international outlook to foster the next generation and share classical music through regular masterclasses at her alma maters (Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School) and via digital platforms. Since August 2023, Hwayoon Lee performs on the 1865 “Cheremetev” viola by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume and a Benoit Rolland bow, on generous loan from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
October 2026
