Protégé Artist Spotlight: Anna Lee

Artists

Anna Lee Violin

Delighting her listeners with “her warm, humane musicianship” and “sweet spot of grace,” Anna Lee is an active concert violinist, chamber musician, and teacher. She began violin studies at the age of four with Alexander Souptel and debuted as soloist performing the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 a year and a half later with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Lan Shui. She spent a large part of her childhood in Japan and Singapore even though she was born in South Korea, and at the age of six moved to New York after being accepted to the Juilliard School Pre-College Division under the tutelage of Masao Kawasaki.

Concert venues that Anna Lee has appeared in are the Carnegie-Weill, Carnegie-Zankel, Wigmore, Beethoven-Haus, Avery Fisher, Victoria, Lotte, and Esplanade Concert Halls, as well as Merkin Hall and Peter Jay Sharp Theater. She has claimed top prizes in the 2019 Montréal Competition, 2018 Indianapolis Competition, 2011 Sion-Valais Competition, 2011 Kronberg Violin Masterclasses, 2010 and 2012 Menuhin Competition (Junior and Senior Divisions, respectively), and Aspen Music Festival AACA Competition. Anna Lee has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, awarded by Office for the Arts at Harvard, the Bernhard and Mania Hahnloser Violin Prize at the Verbier Festival Academy, and the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

Anna Lee was a Chamber Music Northwest Protégé Artist in 2022, and she has also been featured in music festivals around the world, such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival, and on radio shows such as “From the Top” with host Christopher O’Riley and APM’s Performance Today with host Fred Child. She has also been the cover page feature of the Wall Street Journal Magazine.

Notable chamber music collaborations include Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Steven Isserlis in the Kronberg Academy’s “Chamber Music Connects the World” festival. Anna Lee was also presented by Sir András Schiff at the BeethovenFest in Bonn. As a soloist, Anna Lee made her New York Philharmonic debut in April 2011, as well as her Frankfurt debut in 2016 with maestro Christoph Eschenbach and the Hessische Rundfunk Radio Orchestra. She has also appeared with the Singapore, Indianapolis, Park Avenue Chamber, and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.​

Anna Lee’s teachers were Masao Kawasaki and Cho-Liang Lin at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division, Ana Chumachenco at the Kronberg Academy, and Miriam Fried and Don Weilerstein in Boston, where she recently completed her Comparative Literature degree at Harvard College. Currently, she is studying with Ani Kavafian at the Yale School of Music. She has also taught as a chamber music teacher, most notably at the Kronberg Academy’s Mit Musik—Miteinander festival and Festival MusicAlp in France.

Artist's Website

Yoko Greeney Piano

Collaborative pianist and chamber music visionary Yoko Greeney has been hailed as “one of the most significant members in Portland’s classical music scene” (Oregon ArtsWatch). Her multifaceted career—spanning directing, performing, teaching, and community engagement—reflects a deep commitment to artistic excellence and accessibility.

Celebrated for her sensitivity and stylistic range, Greeney is a sought-after collaborator who has performed at such noted venues as the Aspen Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and California State University Summer Arts, to name a few. Since settling in Portland, Oregon in 2010, she has shared the stage with a variety of groups, including the Oregon Symphony, Chamber Music Northwest, 45th Parallel Universe, Oregon Ballet Theater, BodyVox, and Third Angle New Music, in addition to several live performances and recording projects with All Classical Radio.

A dedicated music educator and arts innovator, Greeney is the Co-Founder and Director of SoundsTruck NW: a custom-built, solar-powered mobile venue that brings live music directly to communities across the region. Recognized as “the gold standard” among mobile stages (Portland Tribune), SoundsTruck NW was a finalist for the 2024 SXSW Innovation Awards in the Urban Design category and a two-time prize winner at the 2024 International Sound Awards in Hamburg, Germany.

Originally from Osaka, Japan, Greeney has followed a global path—living and working in cities across Japan, Mexico, and the United States—before making Portland her home. She holds a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University and currently teaches at Lewis & Clark College. Together with her husband, Jon, she is a dedicated advocate for the arts, culture, and education.