About

Biography

Harpist Subin Lee performs regular solo recitals in South Korea and the United States, having appeared in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Seoul Arts Center, and Kumho Art Center. She has also appeared as soloist with Korea National Symphony Concert Orchestra, Seongnam Philharmonic Orchestra, Romania Timisoara Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonians Seoul Orchestra, and Curtis Institute Young Artists Summer Orchestra.

An award-winning harpist, Subin was featured on the 2025 Forbes Korea "30 under 30" list and was named as the Honorary degree recipient of Seoul Arts High School. She is the first prize winner of Italy International Harp Competition “Suoni d’arpa”, Lyon&Healy Awards, and was recognized for her academic and musical excellence receiving the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award at Curtis Institute of Music and the Alumni Association Award at Yale University. She is also a laureate of numerous international competitions, including Hong Kong International Harp Competition, Korea International Harp Competition, Szeged International Harp Competition, and Germany International Harp Competition.

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An active chamber musician, she has performed as a trio in Seoul Arts Center as part of Rendez-Vous de la Musique Festival for chamber music, and has performed and recorded with Mimi Stillman and Che-Hung Chen as a guest artist of the Dolce Suono Ensemble. A member of Trio Animoso, she has recently performed in the New+Emerging Artist Series of Eastern Illinois University, Shandalee Music Festival, Yale Vista Concert and the Philadelphia Athenaeum Concert Series. Also an avid orchestral harpist, she has performed under the baton of conductors such as Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Giancarlo Guerrero, Osmo Vanske, and Peter Oundjin.

Subin has performed monthly volunteer concerts in hospitals from a young age and continues to make opportunities to share her music with people in and out of the traditional concert hall setting. Her recent performances have taken place not only in professional venues, but also in elementary and middle schools, children’s shelters, art galleries, and culture complex spaces with specially designed concerts targeted for children and young adults.

Her efforts to expand boundaries of harp music and performance also include taking part in composition, performing new music, and encouraging emerging young composers to write for her instrument. As part of the 2021 Marylin Costello Composition Competition, she has worked with the winning composer to provide feedback on harp writing and performed the world premiere of the work commissioned by the competition, “Blue, Vanishing”. She took part in the meta-score project by Ari Benjamin Meyers, “Rehearsing Philadelphia”, performing new music in unconventional venues and performance settings. She has also composed and performed her own works for harp, some of her recent works including music based on literature such as Haikus by Richard Wright and “Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway.

Subin began harp studies at the age of eleven in South Korea. She entered Curtis Institute of Music in 2019 and studied with Elizabeth Hainen as recipient of the Marylin Costello Fellowship. She earned a Master's degree at  Yale School of Music with June Han and is currently studying at New England Conservatory with Jessica Zhou.