Music as a force for connection, identity and transformation
Josephine Lee is an Emmy Award–winning, Grammy-nominated conductor, pianist, singer, producer and cultural architect redefining music’s role in society. At the intersection of artistry, education and civic life, she leads one of the world’s most influential youth music organizations — placing nearly 4,000 young people at the center of the culture they help create.
The Good Goodbyes
An original composition for piano — on the intense relationships, good and bad, we carry through life, and the joy of knowing those memories are never forgotten.
What we nurture in our young people today defines the world we will awaken to tomorrow. — Josephine Lee
Nearly four thousand voices, one city
Josephine Lee is an Emmy Award–winning, Grammy-nominated conductor, pianist, singer, producer, and cultural architect redefining music’s role in society. At the intersection of artistry, education, and civic life, she wields music as a force for connection, identity, and transformation, and has spent her career proving that the two are inseparable.
As President and Artistic Director of Uniting Voices Chicago, Lee leads one of the world’s most influential youth music organizations, serving nearly 4,000 young people annually. Under her leadership, the organization has doubled its reach and tripled its budget, emerging as a defining civic and cultural institution. Her model is uncommon: artistic excellence in genuine service of human development, with young people not merely performing culture but actively creating it.
Young voices at the center
That vision has placed young voices at the center of some of the most celebrated stages and collaborations worldwide. Her ensembles have performed with Karol G on Saturday Night Live and at Lollapalooza; collaborated with Chance the Rapper on Coloring Book and The Big Day; appeared on PBS Great Performances; and performed Carmina Burana at the Kennedy Center.
The roster of artists who have shared the stage with Lee’s singers reads like a living map of contemporary music — each collaboration a testament to the power young voices carry when given a world-class platform.
Music across borders
Her vision extends far beyond any single performance. Lee has led cultural exchanges and tours across five continents, including India, Egypt, and South Africa, where young people engage across cultures, histories, and borders. In 2007, she conducted the first Chicago public talks featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a signal moment underscoring her belief in music as a platform for peace.
Uniting Voices later became the first non-Korean civilian group invited to perform at the Yeolsei Observation Platform in the Korean Demilitarized Zone — one of the world’s most geopolitically charged landscapes, and a singular act of artistic diplomacy.
Expanding what choral storytelling can be
As a composer and interdisciplinary creator, Lee’s original works — including Multiverse, Ascension, and The Good Goodbyes — bridge classical tradition and contemporary voice. Her productions include Sita Ram with Lookingglass Theatre, the hip-hop adaptation Long Way Home with the Q Brothers Collective, and the original work Rainbow Beach, expanding what choral storytelling can be and who it can reach.
Her honors reflect the breadth of her impact: the Kennedy Center’s National Committee for the Performing Arts Award for Arts Advocacy, a Harvard Business School fellowship in Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, the Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal from the University of Chicago, and the 3Arts Award.
Through her leadership, her artistry, and her unwavering belief in young people, she is helping build a more connected, more empathetic, and more harmonious world — one voice at a time.
Josephine Lee on Spotify
The Good Goodbyes
This work was commissioned by Frank Chaves and the River North Dance Company of Chicago. The Good Goodbyes represent the intense relationships — good and bad — we experience throughout our journey of life with others, and the joy of knowing that those memories will never be forgotten. Perhaps one day we’ll reunite? or maybe never — but the feelings we shared will always be there.
After losing both my parents at a young age and spending very finite periods of time with great artists from all over the globe, I’ve learned to appreciate the opportunity we have to create and collaborate with each other. The beauty of life, friendship, family and above all, the power of love to unite and experience the world through this medium is transformational. Let’s continue healing together and put more good and beauty back into the world.
In the spotlight
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By Lola Kramer — May 3, 2024. Welcome to Wet Paint in the Wild, the freewheeling — and free! — spinoff of Artnet News Pro’s beloved Wet Paint gossip column, where we give art-world insiders a disposable camera to chronicle their lives on the circuit.
Read more on Artnet (https://news.artnet.com/art-world/wet-paint-lola-kramer-chicago-renaissance-society-2480290)