Okkyung Lee

Okkyung Lee is a cellist, composer and improviser who moves freely between artistic disciplines. 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, Lee has taken a broad array of inspirations — including noise, improvisation, jazz, western classical and her homeland’s traditional and popular music – and used them to forge a highly distinctive approach.  

Although Okkyung Lee is mostly known for her improvisational work utilizing visceral extended techniques on her instrument, she has been creating various types of compositions and site-specific works, responding to its architecture, audience or objects surrounding her, producing an immersive experience that also challenges the built-in hierarchy in traditional concert settings. 

She has appeared on more than 30 albums, including the latest release 나를 (Na-Reul) on Corbett vs. Dempsey and Teum (The Silvery Slit), which was written for the acclaimed Acousmonium by Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) and live cello and released on GRM Portraits / Editions Mego. 

Okkyung Lee has been commissioned to compose music and assemble projects for numerous festivals including Transit Festival in Leuven, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and rainy days in Luxembourg. She has presented new works at TIME:SPANS in New York, GRM in Paris, Sonic Acts in Amsterdam, Borealis in Bergen, Donaueschingen Music Festival and Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin. 

She has performed in the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and The Met Breuer in New York, Museum Tinguely in Basel, Museo del Novecento in Milan, Serpentine Galleries and White Cube in London, among many others. 

She was a fellow of the La Becque residency programme in 2023, Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart in 2017 and Civitella Ranieri in Umbria in 2015. Okkyung Lee received the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant in 2010 and a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award in 2015. 

She received a dual Bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Writing & Production and Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music in 1998 and a Master’s degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory of Music in 2000. 

In 2025 Okkyung Lee is a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program. 

As of October 2025