Justin Kijun Lee (13), born in South Korea and raised in Vienna Virginia since the age of four, started to play cello shortly before moving to the United States and is currently a student of Clara Minhye Kim at Juilliard Pre-College.
In 2025, Justin was awarded the Grand Prize at the Enkor International Music Competition, New York International Classical Music Competition and the Korean Youth Honor Society Competition. He also won first prize in the Miclot International Competition and was named a finalist of NPR’s From the Top.
Justin appeared as a soloist with the Accord Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. in 2024. In the same year, Justin won the Grand Prize at the New York Laureate International Music Competition and first place in the Bellagrande International Music Competition and the Young Soloist International Music Competition. He also won first place in the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association’s Concerto Competition and their Bach/Baroque Festival in 2024. In previous years, Justin won first place in many other competitions as well, including the Washington National Youth Competition (2018), Washington Performing Art’s Joseph and Goldie Feder Memorial String Competition (2019) and the Asian American Music Society International Competition (2022).
He has performed at Weill Hall Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, DiMenna Center in NYC, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., UDC Theatre of the Arts. In the fall of 2025, he is scheduled to perform at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium and a return to Weill Hall Carnegie Hall after winning competitions.
Justin is also passionate about Chamber and Orchestral music. He studies chamber and orchestral music both in his hometown Virginia and at Juilliard Pre-College. Justin has studied chamber music under the tutelage of cellist Jennifer Combs and orchestral studies with a cellist and conductor, Nico Olarte-Hayes. In his hometown Virginia, Justin had been a member of the Quantum Piano Trio and the Mosaic String Quartet and was invited to perform at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Justin was the youngest member of The Capitol Symphony Youth Orchestra (2017-2019), and he also served as the principal cellist at the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra’s String Ensemble (2023-2024). Justin is the founder of the “String Cheese” ensemble, which brings joy of music to his community with his sibling violinist and friends. He is a regional director of the Back to Bach Project in his hometown where he and his friends introduce classical music to young audiences.
Justin has attended summer music programs including the Heifetz International Music Institute and the Morningside Music Bridge Program at the New England Conservatory with a full scholarship, where he studied with renowned cellists including Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, Zvi Plesser, Matt Haimovitz, Andres Diaz, Wei Yu, Kee-Hyun Kim, Thomas Mesa, Maciej Kulakowski, Sihao He, and Tao Ni.
Aside from playing the cello, Justin enjoys folding complex origami models and occasionally teaches at a local library. He found it interesting as folding origami is a lot like studying the cello as both require artistry as well as discipline and patience. His origami artwork has been continuously featured in “The Paper'' magazine by Origami USA since 2020 as his artwork has been selected to be displayed in a traveling exhibit for schools, libraries, and museums all around the USA.
