Arizona Friends of Chamber Music likes to bring up a certain celebrated Chinese pianist when they talk about this weekendβs recital with 18-year-old Nathan Lee.
βThe last high-school-age pianist we discovered for our series was a kid named Lang Lang, and you know how he turned out,β the chamber music group posted on its website.
They are referring to having been early champions of Lang Lang, who was just 17 when he played the Piano and Friends series in September 2000.
Within a few short years, Lang Lang become an international star, playing with major orchestras around the world and in prestigious halls.
Lee shrugged off the comparison during a phone call in late September, but the similarities in the pairβs trajectory is hard to dismiss.
Like Lang Lang, Lee has been racking up prestigious contest wins since his early teens β more than 15 and counting β including the top prize in the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions when he was 15. He recently added the special Tabor Foundation Award from the 2019 Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland to his trophy case.
Lee also is compiling a list of glowing reviews including the Washington Post, which called Lee, in his recent Kennedy Center debut, βimmensely self-assuredβ and said β... his playing is virtually note-perfect.β
Lee, who is a freshman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, is performing a recital that includes four new-to-him works that he is performing this season.
βIβve really been interested in the music of Schumann and Beethoven lately,β he explained. ββThe Carnivalβ and (Beethoven Piano Sonata 27) are just really pieces that I wanted to explore β¦ this season.β
Lee, who grew up in Portland, Oregon, began taking piano at age 6 after seeing the Seattle Symphony perform Prokofievβs Second Piano Concerto.
βI just fell in love with the instrument,β he recalled. βI think it was just something about the majesty of (the soloistβs) sound and his presence on stage that struck a chord with me.β
One of two sons of a computer engineer and stay-at-home mom, Lee grew up surrounded by classical music. His younger brother also studied piano and violin but is not pursuing music professionally.
Lee, though, was all in from lesson one. By age 9, he had made his orchestral debut and has since performed with nearly a dozen orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Lukeβs at Lincoln Centerβs Alice Tully Hall, Orquesta FilarmΓ³nica de Boca del RΓo in Mexico and Koreaβs Daejeon Philharmonic.
Leeβs concert here will be his first in Arizona.
βItβs such a great joy and privilege for me to be able to share my art and Iβm looking forward to doing that in Arizona,β he said, adding that he hopes to share a story with his Tucson audience.
Lee said he has been working on the new pieces in between his school work.
βFor me, approaching a piece is like coming up with a story to tell,β he explained. βNot only learning the notes but thinking of a way to share it in my own authentic musical voice. To imagine what Beethoven might have been thinking about or going through in his life at the time he wrote the piece. Imagination is something I find incredibly important. Itβs what turns music into art. It creates this magical atmosphere. It totally gets me into my playing instead of playing from outside. I just feel a stronger connection with the audience when I am able to do that.β
