Sooyeon Lee
Born in South Korea, Sooyeon Lee studied singing at Seoul Arts High School and the College of Music at Seoul National University. After graduating, she completed a master's degree in opera singing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Ks. Edith Lienbacher and continued her studies in song and oratorio as a postgraduate student under Ks. Gabriele Fontana.
The soprano has been honoured with several awards, including at the Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition, the Beaumarchais Concours International Singing Competition in Vienna, the Plácido Domingo Operalia and the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. She attracted particular attention in 2015 at the ARD Music Competition, where she won second prize and the audience prize. In 2018, she was a finalist in the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in the main and song competitions.
In 2020, she appeared on stage with the Tonkünstler Orchestra at the New Year's Concert at the Musikverein in Vienna. In December 2019, she sang with the Ensemble Pygmalion under the baton of Raphaël Pichon in France, at the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, the Rheingau Music Festival and at the Seoul Arts Centre in South Korea. In the 2016/17 season, she joined the opera ensemble of the Oldenburg State Theatre, where she has performed roles including Marie (La fille du régiment), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor, as Gilda (Rigoletto) and as Woglinde, Ortlinde and Waldvogel (Der Ring des Nibelungen). In 2022, she also made her debut with a recital at London's Wigmore Hall.
In 2020/21, Sooyeon Lee joined the ensemble of Dortmund Opera. In the 2023/24 season, Sooyeon Lee performed roles such as Musetta (La Bohème) and Princess Lunatick (in the world premiere of Die Reise zu Planet 9). In 2024/25, she appeared as Violetta Valéry (La traviata), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and in the complete cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen. In the 2025/26 season, she will appear at the Dortmund Opera as Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), the soprano solo in Carmina Burana, Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and the role of O-90 in the world premiere of WE.
