Monday, July 15, 2019

Sidney Lee | 1st Prize | Violin | 6th Edition | ENKOR Int'l Music Competition


Sidney Lee, age 15, is a Scholarship Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy, a training center for advanced pre-college musicians. She currently studies with Dr. I-Hao Lee. A native of San Francisco, Sidney began playing violin at the age of 4, where she studied with violinist Florin Parvulescu of the SF Symphony Orchestra.

She has served as Concertmaster of Interlochen’s Symphony Orchestra, and for the 2018/2019 season, Sidney was a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, going to tour the Baltics, performing at world-class concert halls such as the Musikaliska in Stockholm and the State Academic Capella in St Petersburg, Russia. While living in California, Sidney achieved Command Performance Gold Awards at CMEA, and was invited to perform at the Junior Bach Festival in Berkeley. Since moving to Chicago in 2016, she has won awards from SAM (Society of American Musicians), the DePaul Concerto Competition, Sejong Music Competition, and the AMI Music Competition.

Sidney has participated in the Summit Music Festival, Sequoia Chamber Workshop, Summer Music West of the San Francisco Conservatory, and Interlochen Arts Camp. This summer she will participate in the Green Mountain Music Festival in Vermont. Sidney has taken master classes with Victor Danchenko, Herbert Greenburg, Wei He, Stephen Rose, Sibbi Bernhardsson, and David Taylor. An active chamber musician, Sidney has participated in masterclasses given by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. This past year her group was invited to perform in Highland Park’s Rising Stars of Tomorrow concert series.

Sidney was a performer for the 37th season of Young Steinway concert series, and was selected to play at the 2017 Chicago Youth Music Festival with Cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Her volunteer works include community performances at the Mather Retirement Home in Evanston, Presbyterian Elliot Chapel, and the Chicago Botanical Garden. Her violin is a generous loan from the Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation in Taiwan.

Sidney is a 9th grader at Buffalo Grove High School. Aside from music, she enjoys reading, skiing, and playing with her cat, Garfield.

Wieniawski Polonaise Brillante, Henryk Wieniawski, 5 minutes
https://youtu.be/s0Qke3rLLps
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 1 in D Major, Sergey Prokofiev, 9 minutes
https://youtu.be/yu1Qd08buTQ