Sun Min Lee

MM (Westminster Choir College), Advanced Diploma (Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute), BM (Presbyterian University in Korea)

Korean-born Sun Min Lee has appeared as an inspiring conductor, passionate pedagogue, and dedicated church musician for the last 25 years.

As a conductor, she has directed numerous choirs and orchestras of all ages from amateurs to professional musicians. From 2012-2023, Lee was the Robert Cutler Endowed Teaching Associate Professor and co-director of Choral Arts at Lehigh University, working alongside Steven Sametz. Under her direction, the choirs of the Lehigh Choral Arts have performed choral and orchestral works in the Bethlehem area, Lincoln Center, and on various international tours. One of her noticeable achievements was to commission and premiere “I Rise: Women in song (2016)” by American leading woman composer, Reena Esmail. As an advocate of women in arts, she co-taught the course "Women, Creativity, and the Arts" and directed "Soaring Together in Harmony: Choral Music by Women Composers," a unique concert that was part of the yearlong celebration of 50 years of Women at Lehigh University in 2022.

Prior to her appointment at Lehigh, Lee taught at her alma mater, the prestigious Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Her choirs toured and often collaborated with many renowned conductors, including Stephen Paulus, Kathy Saltzman Romey, Anton Armstrong, and Lorin Maazel with the New York Philharmonic. Lee has been featured in high school and collegiate festivals, church music workshops, and conducting masterclasses in the United States, South Korea, Italy, Ireland, and Hungary. She graduated from the Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary (South Korea), Zoltan Kodaly Pedagogical Institute of Music (Hungary), Westminster Choir College, and studied at the Eastman School of Music. She is honored to have had such wonderful teachers and mentors as Joseph Flummerfelt, William Weinert, Peter Erdei, Andrew Megill, Chang Hoon Park, and Robin Leaver.

As a dedicated church musician, Lee is currently the choir director at Praise Presbyterian Church in Somerset, N.J., where she leads a 60-member adult choir, youth orchestra, and chime choir. Her upcoming engagements include directing the PMEA Region VI High School Honors Choir in March and the CJMEA Middle School Honors Choir in May.