Joseph Lee is a current member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, winning the position in May of 2012. Mr. Lee began piano studies at the age of 4, violin studies at 7, and then finally cello at the age of 11. He won the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra concerto competition resulting in his concerto debut, playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto in Davies Symphony Hall under conductor Edwin Outwater. Joseph grew up in northern California where he studied with Irene Sharp. He earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music from The Juilliard School where he studied with Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins. He also earned a master’s degree in orchestral performance from The Manhattan School of Music studying with Alan Stepansky. Mr. Lee has performed in master classes for Richard Aaron, Ralph Kirshbaum, Lynn Harrell, and Janos Starker. Playing in orchestra he has worked with prominent conductors including: Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, Andre Previn, Pierre Boulez, David Zinman, Esa-PekkaSalonen, and James Levine. Mr. Lee was a member of the New World Symphony from 2010 until 2012, and has played with the New York Philharmonic as a substitute musician.

Sean Kennard has won top prizes in the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium), the International Music Competition of Viña del Mar (Chile), the Vendome International Piano Competition (Portugal), the Sendai International Music Competition (Japan),the Hilton Head International Piano Competition(USA), the National Chopin Competition, the Iowa Piano Competition, the American Pianists Association, and the International Chopin Competition of the Pacific.

Kennard has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as Japan’s NHK Chamber Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, the Sendai Philharmonic, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Belgique and Orchestre Royal de Chambre in Belgium, the German Chamber Orchestra of Frankfurt am Main, the Orchestre Philharmonique du Maroc, Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile, Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo, Sinfonia Perugina, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and the orchestras of Charleston, Sioux City and Honolulu.

The Washington Post wrote of his “powerful and involved music making” and described him as “a strong luminous pianist.” American Record Guide said that he “plays Chopin’s preludes with more poise and vision than most pianists who have recorded them. He boasts a huge, romantic sound and a bold melodic vision.”  Fanfare wrote that “his playing is full of life and sparkle.”

Sean received a Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2004. In his final year at Curtis, he won their Sergei Rachmaninoff Award, given to one graduating pianist each year. He continued with Enrique Graf, and later received a Master of Music from the Juilliard School, working with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald.  Currently he is in the studio of Richard Goode at Mannes College.