Pianist Sonya Kumiko Lee has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at world-renowned concert halls throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, The Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado, Create Center Hall in Osaka, Japan, the Colly Soleri Music Center at Arcosanti, Arizona, and the Salle des Colonnes in Fontaintebleau, France among others. 

During the 2023-2024 season, Ms. Lee performed the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Maestra Dr. KuanFenLiu. Other favorite highlights include a chamber music performance on the "Sundays Live!" program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which was broadcast live on KUSC, and Ms. Lee's first classical music video featuring "The Banshee" by Henry Cowell. Ms. Lee currently serves as the Artistic Director of the performance series, "La Fête!" - a collective of artists and musicians focused on arts enrichment, community-building, and outreach in Southern California. 

Ms. Lee’s affinity for rock music led to collaborations with Rivers Cuomo, the brilliant lead singer of the alternative rock band, Weezer. Ms. Lee’s performances with Mr. Cuomo have aired on Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR, Sirius Satellite Radio, I Heart Radio for Clear Channel, on Weezer’s album “Hurley” and DVD release, “Not Alone: Rivers Cuomo and Friends.” 

Ms. Lee was born in Tokyo, Japan, where she received her first piano at 9-months old - a red, plastic toy piano with rainbow-colored keys. Since then, Ms. Lee and her family moved to Orange County, CA, where she began formal piano lessons, upgraded to a proper piano with all 88 keys, then headed to New York City to study at The Juilliard School where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance as the student of pianists, Emanuel Ax and Oxana Yablonskaya.