Justin Lee (14), a cellist from Vienna, Virginia, started to play the cello when he was four. He is currently a student of Clara Minhye Kim at Juilliard Pre-College.

In 2025, Justin was awarded the Grand Prize at the Manhattan International Music Competition, Enkor International Music Competition, New York International Classical Music Competition, Korean Youth Honor Society Competition, and was the Virginia MTNA Junior Strings winner. He also won the Best Performance Award as well as First Prize in the Miclot International Competition, in addition to First Prize in the American Virtuoso International Music Competition.

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, Washington Performing Arts Joseph and Goldie Feder Memorial String Competition, and the Asian American Music Society International Competition.

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., and the UDC Theatre of the Arts. In the fall of 2025, he performed at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium and returned to Weill Hall Carnegie Hall to perform at winner’s concerts.

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 Jia Kim, along with orchestral studies with cellist and conductor Nico Olarte-Hayes. In his hometown Virginia, Justin had been a member of the Quantum Piano Trio, the Mosaic Quartet, the Capitol Symphony Youth Orchestra, and served as the principal cellist at the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra’s String Ensemble. Justin is the regional director of the Back to Bach Project in his hometown, where he and his friends introduce classical music to young audiences. Justin is a performance member of Friday Morning Club, Inc.

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. He has studied and had masterclasses with renowned cellists including Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, Matt Haimovitz, Andrés Díaz, Zvi Plesser, Wei Yu, Kee-Hyun Kim, Thomas Mesa, Taeguk Mun, Maciej Kułakowski, 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.