Yenne Lee is a South Korean-born classical guitarist based in New York who earned a bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University, a master’s degree from Mannes College of Music (studying with Michael Newman), and a doctorate from Manhattan School of Music under Grammy-winning guitarist David Starobin, with a dissertation on Fernando Sor’s fantasies. She won a prize at the Indiana International Guitar Competition in 2013 along with several Korean competitions, and has taught as an adjunct artist at Vassar College (2018–2022) and at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. Alongside her classical career she is known for her YouTube channel, @YenneLee, where she performs both classical repertoire and arrangements of popular songs and jazz standards for guitar; her arrangement of ‘Autumn Leaves’ for Guitar Salon International has drawn tens of millions of views. She has released the albums Beautiful (2016), featuring 1970s pop arrangements, and Different (2022), reinterpreting jazz standards.

Lee is not primarily known within the traditional classical-repertoire touring circuit; her significance lies in bringing classical guitar technique to a large online audience by bridging classical, popular, and jazz repertoire on her widely watched YouTube channel.

Sources:

• https://yennelee.com/about/