Breathtaking Beauty

With a Carnegie Hall debut described as “powerful” and “hefty” by the New York Times, American conductor Vince Lee is quickly rising as one of today’s top emerging talents. Known among his contemporaries for his dynamic performances and his razor-sharp ear, Mr. Lee’s diverse musical background provides him a flexibility and perspective that is unique in the conducting world. His firm belief in striving for the highest artistic standards, regardless of genre, venue, or audience, has made him a crowd favorite, and a popular hire for numerous orchestras and arts organizations throughout the country. Recent highlights include appearances with the Florida Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony, and the Korean Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea. Mr. Lee is currently the Music Director of the Ocean City Pops in Ocean City, New Jersey.

During his tenure with the Cincinnati Symphony, Mr. Lee revolutionized his role as Assistant Conductor for the orchestra. His symphonic concerts with the CSO received critical acclaim, and his Young People’s Concerts found unprecedented levels of success, combining elements of increased interactivity with high artistic standards. This tradition has continued in his activities as a guest conductor, designing and conducting innovative and engaging concerts for tens of thousands of concertgoers.

With over 200 premieres to his credit, Mr. Lee has become one of the most sought-after conductors of modern compositions. Lauded in reviews for his “striking attention to detail,” and “energetic, breathtaking performance,” he has established a reputation among composers for bringing particularly challenging and complex music to life. Mr. Lee is also an enthusiastic believer in paying his experiences forward to the next generation of musicians, and regularly appears as a guest at schools, universities, and workshops across the US.

Mr. Lee made his professional conducting debut at age 13 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, under the tutelage of Erich Kunzel. His conducting studies took him to Indiana University before being invited to study at the Juilliard School by Maestro James DePreist. After receiving his post-graduate diploma from Juilliard, Mr. Lee's career came full circle when he won his first professional conducting position with the Cincinnati Symphony.

An imaginative and electrifying performer, Zee Zee (Zhang Zuo), is unique among the young generation of pianists. Described as “full of enthusiasm and glamour, radiating the vigor of youth” (Chinese Gramophone), her interpretations and communicative abilities have been praised as “taking us to another reality… bright, expressive and moving to the extreme” (Belgischer Rundfunk), while her creative maturity has been hailed as “a powerful, passionate and compelling representation of pure artistry” (Los Angeles Times).

Highlights in the recent season include the season-opening concert with the Estonian National Symphony under Neeme Järvi, with the China Philharmonic at Beijing Music Festival, with the Philharmonia orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall under Paavo Järvi, two times with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as the complete piano concertos of Beethoven and of Saint-Saëns with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Amid the pandemic, Zee Zee gave a recital tour in China, Hong Kong, Singapore (Esplanade), and had her highly acclaimed recital debut at the prestigious Lucerne Festival in the summer of 2021.

In the 2022-2023 season, Zee Zee returns to the Aspen Music Festival, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and China Philharmonic. Zee Zee plays at the Brevard Music Center Summer Festival, Casa da Musica in Porto, Macao International Music Festival, and with North Carolina Symphony, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Slovakia Philharmonic, Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava, and Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, among others.

In October 2019, Universal released her first album under Deutsche Gramophone featuring Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Paavo Järvi and the Philharmonia Orchestra. The second album Journey was a solo album released under Decca Classics featuring works from Wagner, Schönberg, and Liszt was released in May 2022.

In the past season, Zee Zee performed with leading orchestras worldwide including the BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTÉ National Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, Macedonian Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Kristiansand Symphony, Turku Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Pasadena Symphony, among others.

Zee Zee has given a number of notable recitals, including at the Wigmore Hall in London, De Doelen in Rotterdam, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Lincoln Center in New York, Vancouver Recital Society and Hong Kong’s Premiere Performances, and has appeared at festivals such as MiTo Festival, the Gilmore Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Brevard Music Center Summer Festival, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Lucerne Festival, Biarritz Piano Festival, and the SJE Arts Series in Oxford. Zee Zee was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013-2015. In 2014 she performed at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms.

She regularly works with some of today’s leading conductors, including Marin Alsop, Rune Bergmann, Jonathan Bloxham, Charles Dutoit, Alondra de la Parra, Domingo Hindoyan, Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Michał Nesterowicz, Jun Märkl, Julian Rachlin, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Roberto Trevino, and Xian Zhang.

A passionate chamber musician, Zee Zee is a founding member of the Z.E.N. Trio alongside violinist Esther Yoo and cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan. The trio released their first album under Deutsche Gramophone in 2017 featuring works from Brahms and Dvořák. They tour regularly throughout the world, including the first highly acclaimed tour in North America in October 2019; with presenters such as San Francisco Performances, The Phillips Collection and Vancouver Recital Society; the first 10-concert-tour in Australia with Musica Viva in August 2022; and an Asia tour in summer 2023.

Zee Zee began her musical training in Germany at the age of five and soon became one of the most sought-after young artists of her generation. Having completed her piano studies with Dan Zhaoyi at the Shenzhen Arts School, Zee Zee continued her artistic development under the mentorship of Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music and Yoheved Kaplinsky and Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School, where she won the coveted Petschek Piano Award. Zee Zee was awarded first prizes at China's 1st International Piano Concerto Competition, the Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition and the Krainev International Piano Competition. She was also a prizewinner at the 2013 Queen Elizabeth Competition. She has studied at the Peabody Institute with Leon Fleisher and continues to receive guidance from Alfred Brendel. She is currently based in Berlin and New York.

zeezee-piano.com