Ravinia 2026 Issue 3

Both alumni of the Steans Institute, conductor (and former cellist) Earl Lee and violinist Stella Chen first performed together in 2022 at the New York Philharmonic’s Lunar New Year Gala. They reunite at Ravinia for the 2026 Tchaikovsky Spectacular with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And his past life as a cellist helps him as a conductor. He has kept his instru- ment, and he gets it out sometimes as he is preparing to conduct a new piece. Many conductors, though not all, began their career as instrumentalists, and Lee’s experience as a chamber musician and in student orchestras informs his work on the podium. “Sometimes I take my cello out to have an imaginary Earl Lee in front of me as a conductor,” he said, “and me in the cello section to see if that would make sense.” On a more technical level, Lee also uses his cello to try out bowings for upcoming repertoire. “Sitting at a desk, I’m studying with my eyes, rather than building a relationship with the piece physically,” he said. “Sometimes the ideal tempo in your head doesn’t make sense” with an instrument in one’s hands. The focal dystonia did not affect his right arm, so as he uses the bow of the cello, he can get a sense for phrasing that the entire orchestra can later follow. And having worked with violinists and violists in string quartets, he understands the bowings for other instruments, too. However, Lee hastened to add, he knows that many orchestras have their own traditional bowings for the stan- dard repertoire, and he won’t interfere with those—particularly on his first visit. “One of my mentors told me, don’t try to change the DNA of the orchestra,” he said. “Make music together and see what comes out at the end. You have to know what you want, but you also have to learn to receive what is being offered by the musicians.” Following his conducting training at the Manhattan School of Music, Lee did stints as a staff assistant conductor at the Toronto, Pittsburgh, and Boston Sym- phonies. The Toronto job, his first, was something of a homecoming for him; he was born in Korea but moved to Canada as a child, and his first cello teacher was a member of the Toronto Symphony. “It was like salmon returning to their birthplace,” he said. “All the musicians at that time, they saw me as their kid and were very embracing.” Each job along the way taught Lee about different aspects of the profession. “A conducting career is really hard, and I’ve been lucky,” he said. He is current- ly music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony, as well as maintaining a full schedule as a guest conductor. Lee’s debut with the Chicago Sym- phony will feature its own challenges as he leads the traditional all-Tchaikovsky concert, often the grand finale of the orchestra’s annual residency, as it is this summer. Ending with the 1812 Overture is a requirement—its performance with Ravinia’s firing replica military cannons is a now 45-time part of the tradition— and violinist Stella Chen was already en- gaged to play the composer’s showpiece concerto, which gave him about half an hour to fill with his choice of repertoire. Lee thought about programming one of the Russian master’s symphonies, but decided there wouldn’t be enough rehearsal time for him and the orches- tra to get to know each other on such a major work. Instead, he and the CSO’s leaders agreed on the Polonaise from RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 3 – AUGUST 16 , 2026 24 CHRISLEE