Violinist JOHNNY LEE joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2005. Previously, he was Assistant Concertmaster of the Charlotte Symphony and Concertmaster of the Canton Symphony. He was also a member of the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago.

Lee has been a featured soloist with the LA Phil several times, performing Vivaldi concertos both at Walt Disney Concert Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl. He has also soloed with the Charlotte Symphony, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and various local orchestras here in Los Angeles.

An avid chamber musician, Lee frequently appears on the Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Society series. He has collaborated with such artists as Thomas Adès and Christoph Eschenbach, and he has recorded the Ustvolskaya Clarinet Trio with David Howard and Vicki Ray for Yarlung Records. Additionally, Lee has spent much time performing in Asia with Ensemble Ditto, a popular chamber music group based in South Korea. He can be heard on several of their recordings for Universal Music, performing works by Saint-Saëns, Schumann and Tchaikovsky.

Lee began playing violin at the age of five. After graduating from Harvard with a cum laude degree in Economics, he attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received his master’s degree in 2003.  His principal instructors have included Carol Ruzicka, Linda Cerone, Lynn Chang and William Preucil.