Sonia Lee. Historical Keyboardist and Music Scholar

Sonia Lee, Historical Keyboardist & Music Scholar
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BIOGRAPHY

AUDIO

VIDEO

DISCOGRAPHY

GALLERY

REVIEWS

BIOGRAPHY A laureate of the Mae & Irving Jurow International Harpsichord Competition (2007), the Montréal Baroque Galaxie-CBC Rising Star Competition (2007), the Canadian Music Competitions (2000), and the American Musical Instrument Society William E. Gribbons Award (2006), Canadian scholar-performer Sonia Lee enjoys a prolific concert and teaching career, with engagements throughout North and South America, Europe, and the Far East. Her performances have been praised by critics as "masterly" (Aliénor News & Notes), "nicely rendered" (Early Music America Magazine), and "full of elegance and expression" (Cleveland Classical). Performing on the harpsichord, fortepiano, clavichord, and organ, she has been featured as soloist at festivals, series, and conferences, including, among others, Rome Festival, Early Keyboard Music Cycle of Buenos Aires, National Music Museum Concert Series, Boston Early Music Festival Fringe and Concurrent Series, Society for Historically Informed Performance Concert Series, KEK-Japan Concert Series, Early Music Colorado Fall Festival, as well as the American Musical Instrument Society, Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society, Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, Galpin Society, and International Committee of Musical Instrument Museums and Collections meetings. As a continuo player, she has collaborated with numerous instrumentalists, singers, and ensembles, including the Classical Chamber Players, La Donna Musicale, Concerto Urbano, the Rome Festival Orchestra and Opera, Sinfonia da Camera, Les Jeunes Virtuoses de Montréal, Pittsburgh Baroque Ensemble, Musicerend Gezelschap, Amor Musicae, and La Réunion Musicale, of which she is the Founding Artistic Director. She has also directed groups such as the University of Illinois Collegium Musicum, Dulces Exuviae, and Phantasie String Orchestra. A strong advocate of contemporary harpsichord music, she has performed works by such prize-winning composers as Dagmar Feyen, James Dorsa, Kent Holliday, Asako Hirabayashi, Peter Machajdík, and Luis Mucillo, and for concerts organized by Aliénor. Her discography includes collaborations with the Classical Chamber Players, La Donna Musicale, and La Réunion Musicale, featuring rediscovered music of Antonia Bembo (ca.1640-ca.1720), Joseph Weigl (1766-1846), and Thomas Vincent (ca.17201783). Upcoming releases in 2012-13 include the "Eight Suits of Lessons for the Harpsichord" by Georg Berg (ca.1730-1775), of which the only surviving printed copy is preserved in the private collection of Ton Koopman, "Premier livre de pièces de clavecin" by Charles Demars (1702-1774), "Concertos for Harpsichord/Fortepiano" by Leopold Kozeluch (1747-1818), and historical two-harpsichord arrangements of concertos by Johann Christoph Kellner (1736-1803). Her performances have also been broadcast on Harmonia/WFIU, WGBH, WQED, WILL-FM, RTHK, and CBC/Radio Canada. As a scholar, her interests center on the history, literature, design, construction, usage, and iconography of historical keyboard instruments. Her doctoral dissertation, titled "The Harpsichord: A Research and Information Guide," is an exhaustive annotated bibliography that serves as a guide and reference manual for anyone researching the harpsichord and its related topics, including harpsichord making and maintenance, harpsichord music, and performance practice. Her other current scholarly projects include articles on an anonymous 18th-century Mexican portrait of a lady with a harpsichord housed at the Denver Art Museum, and on the restoration of a 1782 Broadwood piano housed in a private collection in Indiana. In addition, she is devoted to a large-scale research project on rediscovered 18th-century compositions and arrangements for two keyboard players. Modern editions of some of the works are currently under preparation, including arrangements of concertos of Johann Christoph Kellner (1736-1803) and of Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777), as well as arrangements of six trio sonatas of George Frederic Handel (1685-1759). She has also contributed biographical articles on Wanda Landowska, Claudio Arrau, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Jean-Pierre Rampal, August Wenzinger, and Lauritz Melchior to two reference series, "Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century" (Salem Press, 2009) and "Great Lives from History: Latinos" (Salem Press, 2012). She has given guest lectures, colloquia, and master classes internationally. Some of the institutions she has visited include Millesville University, Eastern Illinois University, Indiana Wesleyan University, University of Waterloo (Canada), Conservatorio Provincial de Música Julián Aguirre (Argentina), and Tainan National University of the Arts (Taiwan). Her excellence in teaching has been recognized by a number of awards, including the University of Illinois Teachers Ranked as Excellent. A Fellow of Trinity College London, Sonia Lee completed her undergraduate and master's studies at McGill University in Montréal, and her D.M.A. in Historical Keyboard Performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with additional doctoral work in Library and Information Science and Musicology. Her major performance teachers included Charlotte Mattax, Hank Knox, Luc Beauséjour, and Joyce Lindorff, and she has received additional guidance from Kenneth Gilbert. She is a past Thesis and Dissertation Reviewer for the School of Music at the University of Illinois, where she has also taught harpsichord, early music ensembles, and music history. Currently, she is on the adjunct music history faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University, and serves on the Board of Directors and as Newsletter Editor for the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society. She has recently been nominated to serve as the Vice President of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America.
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AUDIO

SOLO

Dieterich Buxtehude (c.1637-1707)

Toccata in G Major , BuxWV 164

Gaspard Le Roux (d. 1707)

Prelude in F Major

Gaspard Le Roux (d. 1707)

Chacone in F Major

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Prelude in Eb major for Lute or Harpsichord, BWV 998

bach bwv 998

Le Roux - Prelude (GVerb).mp3

Antoine Forqueray (1672-1745)

La Leclair

Forqueray - La Leclair.mp3

Le Roux - Chacone (GVerb).mp3

Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667)

Lamentation faite sur la mort très douloureuse de Sa Majesté Impériale, Ferdinand le troisième (1657)

Charles Demars (1702-1774)

Prelude in A Major

Demars 1 - Prelude

CONTINUO

Antonio Bembo (c.1643-c.1715)

Ha, que labsence est un cruel martire

Lissette Jimenez, soprano

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Excerpt from Armide

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

George Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)

Glory and worship hast thou laid upon him

From The King Shall Rejoice, Coronation Anthem HWV 260

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Adagio Molto

From Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno"

Sonia Lee, harpsichord (lute stop)

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Excerpt from Miserere mei Deus

Sonia Lee, organ

lully - miserere

CONTEMPORARY

Dagmar Feyen

Asako Hirabayashi

Robert L. Bocchino Jr.

Dagmar Feyen

Dagmar Feyen (Belgium, b.1967)

Evolutions: 6 Preludes on the Evolutions from "L'Art de toucher le clavecin" for Harpsichord (2007)

* Prizewinner at the 2008 Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Competition

I. Progrès de tièrces en montant et en descendant

II. Progrès de quartes en montant et en descendant

III. Progrès de quintes en montant et en descendant

IV. Progrès de sixiemes en montant et en descendant

V. Progrès de septiemes en montant et en descendant

VI. Progrès de d'Octaves. Fuga a tre voci - Tempo di Giga

Asako Hirabayashi

Asako Hirabayashi (USA, b. 1960)

Sonatina II for Harpsichord Solo (2003)

* First Prize Winner at the 2004 Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Competition

Robert L. Bocchino Jr.

Robert L. Bocchino Jr. (USA, b. 1971)

Allemande for Harpsichord (2009)

Dedicated to Sonia Lee

SOLO

CONTINUO

CONTEMPORARY

VIDEO

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Goldberg Variation No. 9

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Goldberg Variation No. 12

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Goldberg Variation No. 24

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Goldberg Variations: Aria da capo

DISCOGRAPHY

Italian Baroque

Delights of the Italian Baroque:

Works by Castello, Marini, Uccellini, Frescobaldi, Corelli, and Vivaldi

With La Réunion Musicale

Hyunjung Choi, baroque violin

Mei-Kuei Chen, baroque flute

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

To be released in Spring 2012.

Berg

George Berg: Twelve Sonatinas, Op. 3

Premiere modern recording

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

To be released in Spring 2012.

Vincent

Thomas Vincent: Six Sonatas, Op. 1

Premiere Modern Recording

With La Réunion Musicale

Mei-Kuei Chen, baroque flute

Hyunjung Choi, baroque violin

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

To be released in Summer 2012.

Demars

Charles Demars: Pièces de clavecin (1735)

Premiere modern recording

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

To be released in Summer 2012.

German Baroque

Delights of the German Baroque:

Works by Muffat, Buxtehude, Telemann, Handel, and J.S. Bach

With La Réunion Musicale

To be released in Fall 2012.

Kozeluch

Forgotten Masterpieces of Leopold Kozeluch

With Classical Chamber Players

Tracy M. Parish, director

Recording in Preparation

Weigl

Forgotten Masterworks of Joseph Weigl

Sonia Lee, harpsichord

With Classical Chamber Players

Tracy M. Parish, conductor

Featuring the first recording of two chamber works by composer Joseph Weigl.

Bembo

Antonia Bembo: The Seven Psalms of David, volume 2

With La Donna Musicale:

Sherezade Panthaki, Margaret Hunter, sopranos; Aaron Sheehan, tenor; Frederick Jodry, bass; Na'ama Lion, baroque flute; Laura Gulley, Jennifer Schiller, Cécile Garcia-Moeller, violins; Sonia Lee, Noriko Yasuda, harpsichord; Ruth McKay, organ, harpsichord; Laury Gutiérrez, viola da gamba, director.

La Donna Musicales second CD concludes the first-ever recording of The Seven Psalms of David by 17th century Franco-Italian composer Antonia Padoani Bembo. Bembo sets the penitential psalms of her contemporary, poet Elisabeth-Sophie Chéron, providing a musical interpretation of Chérons passionate verse. Like Volume I, this new recording also includes instrumental music by Bembos contemporary, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre.

To order, please visit http://www.amazon.com/Antonia-Bembos-Seven-Psalms-David/dp/B00304U6CA/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1318517930&sr=1-2

OR

Contact La Donna Musicale at 617-461-6973; E-mail: cd_ladm.org

Italian Baroque

Berg

Vincent

Demars

German Baroque

Kozeluch

Weigl

Bembo

GALLERY

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REVIEWS "Sonia's concert of D'Anglebert and Frescobaldi was a big success...""They loved the music." - Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society Newsletter, USA"[A] soloist who acquitted herself admirably in her performance...""Lee was held to a very high standard of playing."- Culture, McGill Daily, Canada"Special guest harpsichordist Sonia Lee gave a brilliant performance to an enraptured audience."- Early Music Colorado Quarterly, USA"Ms. Lee upheld the high standard of performing that Italian music lovers, tourists, and critics have come to expect from the Rome Festival." - Fritz Maraffi, Director of the Rome Festival Orchestra & Opera, Italy"Instruments by Klinkhamer & Partners, Paul Irvin, Norman Sheppard, David Sutherland and Knight Vernon... were ably played by Sonia Lee."- Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society Newsletter, USA"... Dagmar Feyen's cerebral 'Evolutions,' livened by Sonia Lee's imaginative articulation."- Aliénor News & Notes, USA"She used Vernon's French double and the program included Buxtehude and a surprisingly interesting work by Nicolas Lebègue. Lee appears already as a polished performer in spite of her young age. She very ably demonstrated instruments during the previous MHKS meeting in Saint Paul, Minnesota, last year."- Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society Newsletter, USA"... in addition to the pieces mentioned above, were Sonia Lee's masterly performance of an intense Toccata by Kent Holliday..."- Aliénor News & Notes, USA"... and Peter Machajdik's atmospheric 'Flower Full of Gardens,' nicely rendered by harpsichordist Sonia Lee."- Early Music America Magazine, USA"The following lecture-recital 'Accompanying the Scordatura Violin: Performance Practice Issues in Biber's Mystery Sonatas' began with Sonia Lee reading her prepared remarks. The presentation centered on meantone temperament and scordatura tunings... the performance was very nice indeed."- Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society Newsletter, USA

CONTACT

For booking and other inquiries, please email:

sonialeemusic_gmail.com

You may also fill in the contact form on the right:

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