By Judy Carmack Bross
“My relationship with the Music Institute of Chicago began when I was just 12 years old, as a student at what was then called the Music Center of the North Shore in Winnetka, just one building at the time. We now have many campuses where hundreds of students attend. My violin teachers Almita and Roland Vamos, who are among the first recipients of the Colburn Award and still on faculty here at MIC, also became personal mentors, and I now teach just down the hall from where I took hours and hours of lessons from them every week. It feels like life coming full circle.” –Faculty member Sang Mee Lee, who will receive the prestigious Colburn Award from the Music Institute of Chicago.
(L to R) At the 2024 MIC Gala – MIC alumna, Life Trustee, and alumna violinist Rachel Barton Pine with daughter Sylvia Pine and MIC alumna and Chair of the MIC Strings Department Sang Mee Lee.
The Music Institute of Chicago’s annual gala on May 13 at the Four Seasons Hotel celebrates music education and the Institute’s ability to positively impact thousands of individuals of all ages and backgrounds from nearly 100 Illinois communities and scores of Chicago neighborhoods yearly. Along with presenting the prestigious Colburn Award to Sang Mee Lee, who also chairs its Strings Department, the Dushkin Award, named for the Institute’s founders, will be given to Latin Jazz and classical composer Paquito D’Rivera and the Cultural Visionary Award for Chicago to philanthropist J. Thomas Hurvis, co-founder of Old World Industries LLC. The music-filled evening will also feature a performance by D’Rivera and a Cuban theme carries throughout. Music ensembles, including a cello octet composed of Academy students, alumni and faculty, fill the stellar evening.
Paquito D’Rivera
J. Thomas Hurvis
We talked this week with Lee, a Chicago native who has performed in concert halls around the world. Her Music Institute circle became even more synchronous when she and her Music Institute Academy students headed to Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana this week to compete in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. When Lee was a Music Institute student, she and members of her group, now internationally acclaimed musicians Rachel Barton Pine, Wendy Warner and Michelle Brazier, entered the same competition.
Colburn Award winner Sang Mee Lee
“Our little group won the gold medal. We called ourselves the Diller Street Quartet, named for the North Shore Country Day School theater located behind the MIC Winnetka campus, where we rehearsed for hours and received coachings from Mr. Vamos,” Lee remembered.
Lee’s performing career took her to the Berlin Philharmonie, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and Chicago’s Symphony Center. She has performed extensively in the United States, Europe and Asia and has collaborated with such luminaries as Erich Leinsdorf, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, and Mstislav Rostropovich. Lee has appeared on Good Morning America, WTTW, CBS This Morning, WFMT and Newsweek Korea and at many international music festivals. She has received numerous awards and frequently collaborates with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Seattle and St. Louis Symphonies.
Lee, who studied at The Juilliard School under renowned violin instructor Dorothy DeLay, talked about teaching:
“Performing is very different than being a great teacher. Years ago, I was so firmly on the performing track, teaching wasn’t even a thought. But I quickly learned that life on the road was not for me, and though I still perform, teaching was a natural extension of my love for music and children and allowed me stay in one place.
“Being a teacher is entirely a different skill set from being a great performer. I really like analyzing a problem with a student, drawing on my own experience and understanding as a player and performer and helping them demystify the issues they find challenging. With the right teacher, who can help break down problems into steps, and the right work ethic, students can accomplish levels of playing they previously thought unattainable.
“While most of my students pursue music professionally and matriculate at conservatories, many simply love music and continue playing in college and beyond for their own enjoyment. They go on to study business or law and other professions. It is deeply fulfilling to know that their studies in music have contributed to their success and that they will hopefully enjoy music and appreciate the arts throughout their lives.”
Sang Mee’s students have been accepted into elite music programs in the country and attended top schools including New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory, Curtis Institute, Colburn School, Harvard University, Yale University and Stanford University.
Current and former students return to honor her at the May 13 Music Institute Gala. Lee anticipates hearing the Academy’s Vermillion Quartet and siblings Sameer and Neena Agrawal perform in her honor that night.
For further information about the May 13 gala visit: musicinst.org
