Cellist, Composer and Improviser
Okkyung Lee is a cellist, composer, and improviser who moves freely between artistic disciples and contingencies.
Since 2000, she has worked in disparate contexts as a solo artist and collaborator with creators from a wide range of disciplines. A native of South Korea, she has taken a broad array of inspirations – including noise, improvisation, jazz and Western classical, as well as traditional and popular music from her homeland – and used them to forge a highly distinctive approach.
She is arguablybest known for her improvisational work, utilizing visceral extended techniques on her instrument. However, she also creates compositions and site-specific works that respond to the architecture, audience or objects surrounding her, producing an immersive experience that challenges the built-in hierarchy of traditional concert settings.
Ms. Lee has been commissioned to compose music and assemble projects for numerous festivals, including "Skylight" for the BIT20 Ensemble at the Borealis Festival in Bergen, Norway, in March 2025. She also composed “Signals,” which she performed with the London-based Explore Ensemble in 2024. Co-commissioned by the Transit Festival, the piece premiered at the festival in Leuven, before traveling to the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in England and the Rainy Days Festival in Luxembourg through Sounds Now in November last year.
She is currently a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin-Program.
