Yoon Jae Lee, Conductor & Arranger

YouTube video by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Adagio in C Minor KV 475 / Orchestrated by Yoon Kuk Lee /St. Gellert Music Festival 2025

The 3rd & last video is an orchestration of Mozart's Fantasy in C Minor, K. 475. This piece is 1 of my favorite Mozart pieces. So much emotional depth & expression, I was so glad to give the world premiere of this arrangement by my uncle Yoon Kuk Lee.

YouTube video by Wolfgang Amadeus With Mozart Violin Concerto Nr.4, the violinst Ziyu debuts at St. Gellert Festival with Yoon Jae Lee

Here's Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218 with the incredible talented violinist Ziyu He. What a delight it was to collaborate with him. I absolutely loved his feel for this concerto! The spirit of Mozart really came alive during this!

YouTube video by Wolfgang Amadeus The world premiere of Eine kleine Nachtovertüre at St. Gellert Festival conducted by Yoon Jae Lee

The videos from my concert in Hungary are available. Here's the first piece I conducted. An orchestral arrangement of the 1st movement of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik titled "Eine kleine Nachtovertüre" made by my uncle Yoon Kuk Lee.

Photos from my concerts with the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra at the Szent Gellért Fesztivál. It was an honor to work with amazing musicians. Very grateful for my Hungarian conducting debut! #conductor #performance #concert #musicfestival #Hungary #Szeged

🧵 (3/3) Hopefully I'll be able to play it more often and maybe I'll make videos with it someday!
#piano #victorian #drawingroom #keyboard #historicpiano #collardandcollard #vintage #klavier #fortepiano #performancepractice

🧵 (2/3) I had it at my place for about a year before I had to move and didn't have access to it since then.
Currently, it is being housed in Brooklyn and I just got it tuned and went to play it.

🧵 (1/3) I missed my Collard & Collard [forte]piano. Ever since I was in high school, I had a fascination for historical pianos.
In 2017, I had the opportunity to purchase this beautiful Drawing Room Grand from a private seller.

I'm happy to announce that I'll be making my conducting debut in Hungary later this month! I will be working with several talented soloists conducting the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra at the Szent Gellért Fesztivál on September 27 and 30.
www.szentgellertfesztival.hu/en/artists/ #musicfestival

I'm determined to overcome my difficulties and eventually get that instrument I've been dreaming of!

I just wanted to share my experience and thank you for anyone who read this to the end! 🙏

It is extremely disappointing but I was able to obtain an instrument to play on for the time being and I am very grateful that I have something to work with. My hope is that I can resolve these difficulties sooner rather than later and hopefully I can resume my search again in the Fall.

As I started to narrow down my choices in hopes of finding my forever instrument, I got hit with several unexpected personal difficulties and I unfortunately have to suspend my search for a violin.

I also got to play on a $20K bow at 2 shops, one of which was an out of this world experience! I didn't know that creating a beautiful sound could be so effortless yet subtle!

I also found that the age of the instrument didn't really matter as I enjoyed playing on both modern and vintage instruments. All the shops I visited were friendly and accomodating although 1 or 2 shops did stand out with exceptional service!

Mainly, I realized that higher prices do not equal better sound. I found that after a certain price point, the quality of the tone becomes far more subjective. Of course I didn't play any instruments I couldn't afford so I'm sure surpassing a certain price point will make a difference.

I started researching how to go about buying an instrument and I visited several shops and tried dozens of violins. I had never really done this before and it was an eye-opening experience! I learned a lot about violins, bows, and their makers!

I also started reviewing the solo rep I learned in high school. At first I was really rusty but after a few months of practicing I was able to sound decent again.
In February, I finally had saved up enough money and I was excited to start looking around for my forever violin.

I was planning to get a nice bow after I purchased an instrument because I don't like my current bow either. I got really excited and hopeful. I purchased several books with orchestral excerpts and also made a booklet of excerpts from pieces and orchestral works from IMSLP.

It would cost more to repair than what the instrument is worth! Since I didn't really enjoy playing this instrument, I decided to save up to get that nice instrument I always wanted! I set my budget and carefully saved up each month.

Moreover, I really wanted to get back into playing violin! I did a 180 degree turn and got really excited to start practicing violin again. I borrowed my student's spare violin because I unfortunately dropped mine accidentally a few years back and the neck of my violin was badly damaged.

As a conductor, I thought it would be a good idea to play excerpts and passages of works I am studying on the violin and viola in order to conceptualize the string sound and better understand the bow strokes utilized to produce them.

About a year and half ago, I suddenly had an epiphany! I thought to myself, I have the ability to play string instruments so why let that go to waste?

After a while, I didn't touch my violin or viola for months on end and I almost began to deny the fact that I could play those instruments because I was getting too self-conscious about my playing abilities!

However, I continued playing viola in undergrad and beyond, even going to Aspen as a conductor and violist in the conducting academy! But as conducting and teaching became priorities, that also fell by the wayside.

During my sophomore year in high school, I started learning viola as well and since I was requested to play viola more often, my violin playing slowly started to fade. I pretty much stopped playing violin after high school except for a few occasional instances where I was asked to play.

While it wasn't a bad instrument, it was nothing like some of the better instruments my talented violinist friends who went to Juilliard Pre-College played on. I secretly wished that I could own a nice instrument but it wasn't something my family could prioritize for me at the time.

I also felt my violin skills were not up to the same level I was on piano. Another factor was that I didn't like my instrument at all. It had a weird V-neck feel which I always disliked because it was hard to vibrate on. I don't even remember if I had much of a choice when I got it.

I continued to play violin growing up and even spent a summer at Meadowmount and played in various orchestras throughout high school. Because I was learning 2 instruments simultaneously, I always found it hard to dedicate time to practice violin since it was my secondary instrument.

I started playing violin at age 5. It was how I first started learning music and a year later, I also started piano which eventually became my main instrument.

🧵

Embarking on a new arrangement: A new chamber reduction of the Bach Solo Sonatas and Partitas!

Your words and ideas have inspired me to strive to be the best version of myself. I hope you will continue to inspire others to do the same and move our nation forward! #birthday #andrewyang #HumanityFirst #forward #yanggang