Josephine Yoonji Lee is an emerging freelance and orchestral flutist currently based in the Los Angeles area. She is a graduate of the Master of Music program at Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied with Lorna McGhee. She completed her Bachelor of Music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Alexa Still, where she graduated early with Pi Kappa Lambda Honors and was a recipient of the Conservatory Dean, Kenneth H. Woodside, and Ruder Scholarships. She owes much of her musical development to Christina Yoo, who she studied with during her pre-college years.

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This year, Josephine was chosen as an alternate finalist of the National Flute Association's Orchestral Excerpt Competition and was a finalist for the Boise Philharmonic's Second Flute position. She previously was a winner of the National Flute Association's Masterclass Performers Competition. As an orchestral player, she has made appearances with the Civic Orchestra of Los Angeles and Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra on flute and piccolo. In her youth, Josephine was the principal flutist of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen, where she received the Fine Arts Award in Flute, and was also a concerto soloist and chamber musician at the Beverly Hills International Music Festival.

 

Outside of her academic pursuits, Josephine has furthered her studies with flutists Emily Beynon and Paul Edmund-Davies at Le Domaine Forget de Charlevoix, where her performances earned her the Woodwind Excellence Award. She additionally attended the Pierre Monteux School and performed as part of Le Festival International de Musique Classique de Puget sur Durance. Josephine is greatly invested in the Alexander Technique as a key supplement to her flute studies, having worked privately with the Pittsburgh-based Lisa Levinson. She currently plays on a Powell Aurumite 9K Conservatory flute and a Burkart Elite piccolo with a Keefe T/C headjoint.

 

A casual gamer and supporter of the speedrunning community, Josephine has contributed her playing to video game arrangements made by speedrunner/composer a_variety_pack for speedrunning charity events such as RejectsAndFriends. She is an avid donor of whole blood, platelets, and granulocytes; she is also a lover of cats, shōnen manga, and riichi mahjong! Above all else, she understands that sharing music is a deeply human service and a special privilege to be cherished; she approaches every performance with gratitude for the unconditional love and support of her family, friends, and mentors.