Born in Seoul, Korea, Dr. Soo Young Lee began her piano studies at age nine.  One year later, she moved to the United States to further her musical talent.  Since then, she has distinguished herself in the Chicago area, earning awards and prizes from The Society of American Musicians, The St. Paul Federation of Music Teachers, Northwestern University’s Concerto Competition and The Chicago Musician Club of Women’s Farwell Award. 
    Dr. Lee has participated in The Aspen Music Festival, studying under Ann Schein and Herbert Stessin.  She also had the honor of performing in the master classes of Claude Frank, Menachem Pressler and Nelita True.  She earned her Bachelor of Music with Laurence Davis and Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy with Frances Larimer from Northwestern University.  She then received her Doctorate of Music with Dr. David Kaiserman, also at Northwestern.
    Dr. Lee has taught piano and chamber music at Midwest Young Artists (MYA), Merit School of Music, Northwestern University’s National High School Music Institute, Bay Chamber Music Festival’s Next Generation Program in Rockport, Maine and at Loyola University. She has recently performed live on WFMT 98.7 FM with Kathleen and Peter Van De Graaf and with the ARK Ensemble, which she founded in 2007.
She teaches piano, chamber music and theory as an artistic faculty at The Music Institute of Chicago and at the MIC Academy.  Dr. Lee is on the faculty at Lake Forest College and is also active as the president of The Society of American Musicians and is the founder and artistic director of ARK Ensemble.