Jihye Lee — composer, conductor, big band leader

Jihye Lee is a Brooklyn-based South Korean composer, arranger, and orchestra conductor whose artistic practice redefines the boundaries of large-ensemble jazz through a rigorous musical narrative.

Her academic training at the Berklee College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, under the mentorship of figures like Jim McNeely, forged a technical language that fuses the structural complexity of the orchestral avant-garde with a profound thematic vulnerability.

Throughout her career, she has led internationally acclaimed productions such as April, Daring Mind, and Infinite Connections, where she integrates everything from the migration experience to the rhythms of traditional Korean folklore into a contemporary symphonic framework.

Her approach stands out for creating conceptual frameworks where the orchestra's sections operate as voices in a dramatic dialogue, allowing soloists of the caliber of Sean Jones or Darcy James Argue to weave themselves into sound architectures of immense analytical precision.

Honored with accolades such as the Deutscher Jazzpreis and the Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize, Lee positions herself as one of the most vital creators in the 21st-century evolution of big bands.

Her album Infinite Connections fuses jazz orchestration with Korean folk rhythms, exploring themes of identity, heritage, and improvisation. Through her compositions, she connects cultural traditions with contemporary jazz, establishing herself as a distinctive voice in modern big band music.