Pianist Chi-Jo Lee is an emerging voice in the classical music landscape. Her playing has been described as “virtuosic… with impressive grace” (San Diego Union-Tribune) and that her performance was “delivered with brio and apt abandon” (The Santa Barbara Independent). A versatile pianist, Chi-Jo navigates diverse genres from solo performances to chamber and contemporary music. Her musical journey has taken her to venues in the United States, Italy, Japan, China, and Taiwan.

Over the next two seasons, Chi-Jo will perform the Ravel Piano Concerto with conductor Stephane Deneve and the Colburn Orchestra at the Soraya, Grieg Piano Concerto with conductor Chan Wang at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan, solo piano recitals at both the Ventura Music Festival and ECHO Chamber Series, chamber music performances at the La Jolla Music Society and Le Salon de Musiques, and a recording of the music of Carl Czerny to be released on Naxos’ Romantic Piano Series. Additionally, she has engaged in collaborative projects with the Los Angeles Opera and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Previous performances include the Schumann Piano Concerto with conductor Tao Fan a the Beijing Concert Hall, with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as part of the Discovering Debussy series at the Colburn School, chamber music with violinists Jennifer Koh, Arnuaud Sussmann, and Tessa Lark as part of the Colburn Chamber Music Society, and a recording of Franz Schreker’s Chamber Symphony and Korngold’s Much Ado About Nothing with conductor James Conlon and the Recovered Voices Ensemble.

Chi-Jo has a serious commitment to performing contemporary music that was sparked during her time as a singer in NOTUS, the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble directed by conductor-composer Dominic DiOrio. She has been a part of Colburn School’s Contemporary Ensemble, which has led to performances featuring compositions by Steve Reich, Guillaume Connesson, Unsik Chin, Christopher Cerrone, Andy Akiho, Juri Seo, Nico Muhly, Mike Mower, and more. During her time as a Solo Piano Fellow at the Music Academy of the West, Chi-Jo gave the World Premiere of a Etude for Piano by composer Nico Muhly, and participated in a performance of his chamber works No Uncertain Terms alongside violist Richard O’Neill from the Tackas Quartet, pianist Connor Hannick, and Jorja Fleezanis former concertmaster for Minnesota Orchestra.

Chi-Jo is a prize winner at The Wideman Piano competition, The Odyssiad Festival and Competition, and the concerto competitions at Indiana University and Colburn School. She was recently a semi-finalist at The Gurwitz Competition in the United States. Her piano trio was the 2022 winner of the Eslite Chamber Music Audition resulting in two presented performances in Taiwan featuring the music of Tchaikovsky and Smetana. Prior to this achievement, she received multiple prizes from Taipei Education Department competition on both solo piano and piano trio from 2011 to 2015.

 Chi-Jo is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in piano performance at the Colburn Conservatory of Music with Fabio Bidini, where she is also a keyboard instructor for the Colburn Academy. Prior to her time at Colburn, Chi-Jo studied under the guidance of legendary pianist André Watts at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.