President and Artistic Director
“Music is more than notes on a page. Through the breadth of our programming, our children are learning diverse social codes and through their voices are able to bring cultures together. Uniting Voices Chicago helps our singers become cultural diplomats and world citizens in our global society.”
- Josephine Lee
Emmy-winning and Grammy-nominated conductor, pianist, singer, producer and non-profit leader Josephine Lee has made a widespread impact in the fields of music and education through an array of engagements across the globe. Ms. Lee has worked with a sterling roster of international artists and currently serves as President of Uniting Voices (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), a nonprofit organization that empowers and unites 3000+ diverse youth annually to find their voice and celebrate their common humanity through the power of music.
Through her vision for Uniting Voices, Ms. Lee has doubled the number of students served, tripled the organization’s budget and established Uniting Voices Chicago as one of the city’s premier civic and cultural institutions, creating a performance-based learning experience built around innovative creative partnerships. Lee led Uniting Voices Chicago singers in performances of Carmina Burana with Choral Arts Society at the Kennedy Center; recordings of James Lee III’s Pitch In with Pacifica Quartet and Stacy Garrop’s Terra Nostra with classical label Cedille Records; Colombian pop superstar Karol G on Saturday Night Live and at Lollapalooza (2023); with Peter CottonTale on the viral work Together in Google’s Year in Search video (2020) and on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (2021); PBS Great Performances national broadcast of Bernstein’s Mass with Ravinia Festival (2020); with Bobby McFerrin & The SpiritYouAll Band at Ravinia Festival (2019); recording of Chance the Rapper’s debut studio album The Big Day (2019) and Grammy Award-winning Coloring Book (2016); the world premiere of a hip hop version of Homer’s Odyssey Long Way Home (2018); the original world musical Sita Ram with Lookingglass Theatre (2003, 2006, 2012); and performances with Yo Yo Ma, Luciano Pavarotti, Solange, Al Green, Eddie Vedder, Wyclef Jean, Buddy Guy, the Eagles, Andrea Bocelli, and more. Uniting Voices recently released Ms. Lee’s groundbreaking composition, Multiverse, across all streaming platforms. For over two decades, Ms. Lee has prepared Uniting Voices Chicago ensembles to serve as the youth ensemble for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among other cultural cornerstones. Ms. Lee uses music as a tool for cultural diplomacy; Uniting Voices was the first non-Korean civilian group to be granted permission to enter the Yeolsei Observation Platform in the Korean Demilitarized Zone. In recognition of her leadership, Ms. Lee received the Kennedy Center’s National Committee for the Performing Arts Award for Arts Advocacy, the Roman Nomitch Fellowship to attend the Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program, the Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal from the University of Chicago, the 3Arts Artist Award from MacArthur Foundation, and other esteemed awards.
As an independent artist, Lee delivered a “sensuous and bluesy” performance (The New York Times) in Pulitzer Prize finalist Ted Hearne’s Place at its Brooklyn Academy of Music world premiere, as well as performances with the LA Philharmonic and Festival Musica in Strasbourg. As a composer, she was commissioned for a suite for piano and cello, Ascension, and a piece for piano, The Good Goodbyes. Ms. Lee has conducted the National Philharmonic at Strathmore with Grammy Award-winning artist Lisa Fischer and her band Grand Baton, Choral Arts Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Chicago Sinfonietta, Oregon Symphony, Grant Park Orchestra, Sphinx Virtuosi, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra.