VOICES IN THE OAKS CHORALE

Chorus Director

Mirae Lee

DMA, Choral Conducting, in progress at University of Arizona

MM, Choral Conducting, University of Alabama

BM, Composition, Chung-Ang University, South Korea

Mirae Lee is a conductor, composer, and pianist with a variety of worldwide performance experiences. She is currently a DMA student in Choral Conducting at the University of Arizona under Dr. Elizabeth Schauer. Mirae was awarded the Medici scholarship in addition to numerous other scholarships, and a fellowship at the University of Arizona. She has also worked with University Community Choir and Tucson Arizona Boys Choir as an assistant conductor. Recently, she is serving as a music director of the Tucson Apple Tree church and as a Communication Chair in a graduate chapter of the American Choral Directors Association at the University of Arizona.

During her academic years in Tucson, Mirae published her article, Understanding Arirang, Korea’s Representative Folk Song in The Antiphon, which is a publication of the Arizona American Choral Directors Association. Also, Mirae was invited as a guest lecturer for a choral literature class at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and for a webinar by the University of Arizona Community Chorus. She served on a panel for a session on Virtual Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Series provided by the Western division of the ACDA.

Before she moved to Tucson, she completed her master’s degree at the University of Alabama. She got a full scholarship for two years served as a teaching assistant and an assistant conductor for the University Singers, University Chorus, Women’s Choir, Chamber Choir, and Men’s choir under the direction of Dr. Andrew Minear from 2017 to 2019. In addition to teaching choirs, she also assisted with the teaching of the Fundamentals of Conducting classes, which were primarily attended by undergraduate students. She was selected as a participant for a Student Conductor’s Masterclass in Southern Region ACDA at Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Ken Fulton and Dr. Judy Bowers served as the clinicians and Mirae conducted the University of the Cumberland’s Chorale. She was also selected as a presenter in the reading session of the conference.

Before she moved to the United States, she attended Chung-Ang University where she received her Bachelor of Music in Composition. During her college time, she became passionate about composing new choral works, and her original works were premiered by both professional and collegiate choirs across Korea. One of her works, Poong-nyeon Noh-ree, was won a grand prize ats the Choral Music Composition Competition hosted by An-Dong City, South Korea.

Mirae also holds a special passion for children’s arts education, leading her to go to Nairobi, Kenya for the purpose of volunteering and teaching music to Kenyan Children in 2013. She taught choir, piano, and basic theory to all different levels of Kenyan children’s groups. Inspired by this experience, she co-founded an organization called the Watoto Wangu Foundation in 2014 with Korean and Kenyan friends which was instrumental in the creation of the bus library, a community resource that served to distribute books to local children alike, and that also hosted community-based children’s art events which included music making and art lessons.

A. Subset Photography