SoraElisabeth Lee

About Sora

Widely recognized for her musical depth and interpretive insight, Sora Elisabeth Lee is swiftly establishing herself as a distinctive presence on the international stage. Equally at home in the concert hall, opera house, and ballet theatre, she brings a rare versatility shaped by her passion for both core repertoire and lesser-known works. This breadth has made her a sought-after collaborator among leading ensembles throughout Europe and beyond.

Recent highlights include Carmen at the Opéra Comique in Paris, Sleeping Beauty at the Opéra national de Paris – Bastille, concerts with the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France at the Philharmonie de Paris, as well as appearances with the Sinfonieorchester Basel at the Stadtcasino Basel, the Orchestre de chambre de Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet, and the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.

In the 2025/26 season, she led productions and concerts with Dutch National Opera (Netherlands), Opéra de Lausanne (Switzerland), Opera North (England), Opera Vlaanderen – Antwerp (Belgium), Opéra de Toulon, and Opéra national de Lorraine (France). She will also return to conduct the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre National de Montpellier Occitanie, and the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. Additionally, she will assume the role of Music Director of the Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée, the resident orchestra of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Previously, she served as Assistant Conductor with the Orchestre de Paris, working closely with Music Director Klaus Mäkelä and guest conductors including Jaap van Zweden and Stanislav Kochanovsky. She has also collaborated with Andrea Sanguineti, Aziz Shokhakimov, and Louis Langrée through various other assistantships and engagements. Prior to that, she was appointed as the first Assistant Conductor at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, where she stepped in on short notice to lead the French premiere of Walter Braunfels’s Die Vögel—a performance that earned her a standing ovation.

Sora Elisabeth holds a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris, where she studied with Alain Altinoglu, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich under the guidance of Bruno Weil. During her studies, she conducted the BBC Philharmonic, Münchner Symphoniker, Münchener Kammerorchester, and Dresdner Philharmonie Kammerorchester, and deepened her artistic development through work with Jorma Panula (Panula Academy), Fabio Luisi (Fondazione Arturo Toscanini), Stefan Asbury (Tanglewood), and Richard Hetherington and Mark Shanahan (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden).

An accomplished solo and collaborative pianist, she is recognized for her refined musical sensibility and broad experience, making her a valued partner to both instrumentalists and vocalists. Her excellence in this field was honored with the Best Accompanist Prize at the 2014 International Joseph Suder Lied Competition in Nuremberg, Germany.

Committed to linguistic and cultural fluency, she has studied German, English, French, and Italian since relocating to Europe in 2012. She is currently based in Paris, France.

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Contact

Philip Keegan

Philip Keegan

Associate Artist Manager

Representation

Askonas Holt Worldwide Management

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Press

  • L’Arlésienne & Le Docteur Miracle at Théâtre du Châtelet

    Théâtre du Châtelet
    May 2025
    • …la vraie révélation est la cheffe d’orchestre coréenne, Sora Elisabeth Lee. …the true revelation is the Korean conductor, Sora Elisabeth Lee.

  • Concert at La Seine Musicale with Orchestre Colonne

    La Seine Musicale
    Mar 2025
    • La direction de la cheffe invitée ne manque ni d’énergie ni de précision… par son ambition et l’énergie déployée, le concert à la Seine Musicale convainc particulièrement, il a offert un bain symphonique à la hauteur de nos attentes. The conducting of the guest conductor lacked neither energy nor precision… through her ambition and the energy she deployed, the concert at La Seine Musicale was especially convincing, offering a symphonic immersion that fully met our expectations.