Music for Youth’s Emerging Artists Concert Featuring Award-Winning Cellist Sydney Lee

Please join us for Music for Youth’s Emerging Artists concert featuring award-winning cellist Sydney Lee. This program celebrates the lyrical intimacy and rich harmonic language of French music from the late Romantic to early 20th century. César Franck’s radiant Sonata in A major anchors the program with its sweeping emotional arc and cyclical design, a hallmark of French Romanticism. Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano offer a more introspective voice of poetic miniatures that reveal delicate shades of color and quiet nuance. Camille Saint-Saëns’s beloved The Swan and Gabriel Fauré’s graceful Sicilienne complement these works with their elegance, warmth, and timeless melodic charm. Together, these pieces trace a lineage of French expressivity—refined, nostalgic, and deeply human.

Praised for her “mesmerizing” interpretation of Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante, where she “surmounted all of its technical challenges with ease and gave us a joyous musical experience” (Julian Lloyd Webber, solo cellist), Sydney Lee captivates audiences with her refined elegance, expressive depth, and radiant sincerity.  A rising force in the classical music world, Sydney was awarded First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition, Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition, and became the inaugural recipient of Meadowmount School of Music’s prestigious $50,000 Gurrena Fellowship. Since making her solo debut at age thirteen with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Sydney has performed across North America and Europe in such renowned venues as Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and Terrace Theater, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, and the Konzerthaus Berlin.

Deeply committed to arts advocacy and education, Sydney serves on the Board of Directors for the Back to Bach Project,  a global initiative reaching over 70 regions and 800 members, dedicated to inspiring children through music and community engagement. A native of New York City, Sydney is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University, where she is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree under the mentorship of Hans Jørgen Jensen.

Collaborating with Sydney on this concert is Music for Youth Emerging Artist, Serena Li. Serena, age 14, is one of the talented high school musicians selected by Music for Youth to be part of their Emerging Artists program.  She currently studies at Juilliard Pre-College under the tutelage of Clara Minhye Kim, and has won many awards in cello including the NLPA Virtuosi Recital Competition, Enkor International Competition, and the CAI Concerto Competition. Serena performed as a soloist three years in a row with the Symphony of Westchester as one of the prize winners of their Young Artist Competition. 

This concert is appropriate for adults and seniors, as well as youth interested in music in Grades 4-12.  Registration suggested.