Winner of the 2022 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Earl Lee is a renowned Korean-Canadian conductor who has captivated audiences worldwide. Earl is in his second season as Music Director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and in his third season as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which he has led in subscription concerts both at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood.

In addition to a full season of concerts with the Ann Arbor Symphony and subscription concerts with the Boston Symphony in Boston and at Tanglewood, Earl’s 23/24 season includes guest conducting engagements with the Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, The Florida Orchestra, and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra Toronto. Previous seasons have seen subscription debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Hawaii Symphony, and Edmonton Symphony; leading the Lunar New Year galas of both the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony; and concerts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and with Sejong Soloists in both New York and Seoul.

Earl previously held positions as Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony and as the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony. In 2022, he appeared with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam as a participant in the Ammodo masterclasses led by Fabio Luisi.

Earl’s 23/24 programs with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra include contemporary works by John Adams, Brian Raphael Nabors, Joan Towers, Gala Flagello, Jessie Montgomery, and Zhou Tian as well as the first installment of a multi-year Beethoven cycle with Symphonies Nos. 2, 5 and 9. He leads the orchestra in its Detroit Orchestra Hall debut in January 2024 in a concert during the Sphinx Organizations’s annual SphinxConnect convention.

In all of his professional activities, Earl seeks ways to connect with fellow musicians and audiences on a personal level. He has taken great pleasure in mentoring young musicians as former Artistic Director and Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra and is a regular guest conductor with the orchestras of North America’s top music schools such as Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School, and the New England, San Francisco, and Royal Conservatories.

As a cellist, Earl has performed at festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Caramoor Rising Stars, and Ravinia’s Steans Institute and has toured as a member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), with Musicians from Marlboro, and with Gary Burton & Chick Corea as a guest member of the Harlem String Quartet.

Earl was the recipient of the 50th Anniversary Heinz Unger Award from the Ontario Arts Council in 2018, of a Solti Career Assistance Award in 2021 and has been awarded a Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship by Kurt Masur and the Ansbacher Fellowship by the American Austrian Foundation and members of the Vienna Philharmonic. He studied cello at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School and conducting at Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory. He lives in New York City with his wife and their daughter.

Demarre McGill has gained international recognition as a soloist, recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, he has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Grant Park, San Diego and Baltimore symphony orchestras and, at age 15, the Chicago Symphony.

Now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, he previously served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He recently served as acting principal flute of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and earlier with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. As an educator, Demarre has performed, coached and presented master classes in South Africa, Korea, Japan, Quebec and throughout the United States. With his brother Anthony, he was a speaker and performer at the 2018 League of American Orchestras Conference. He has also served on the faculties of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States, the National Orchestral Institute (NOI) at the University of Maryland, the Orford Music Festival, and participated in Summerfests at the Curtis Institute of Music. In August of 2019, he was named Associate Professor of Flute at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and is an artist-faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

A founding member of The Myriad Trio, and former member of Chamber Music Society Two, Demarre has participated in the Santa Fe, Marlboro, Seattle and Stellenbosch chamber music festivals, to name a few. He is the co-founder of The Art of Élan and, along with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Michael McHale, founded the McGill/McHale Trio in 2014. Their first CD, “Portraits,” released in August 2017, has received rave reviews, as has “Winged Creatures,”his recording with Anthony McGill and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2019-20 the McGill/McHale Trio performs at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, as well as in Washington D.C. and on chamber music series throughout the Midwest.

Media credits include appearances on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center, A & E Network’s The Gifted Ones, NBC’s Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, with his brother Anthony when they were teenagers, on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

A native of Chicago, Demarre McGill began studying the flute at age 7 and attended the Merit School of Music. In the years that followed, until he left Chicago, he studied with Susan Levitin. Demarre received his Bachelor’s degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and a Master’s degree at The Juilliard School.

The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (A2SO) is a versatile professional orchestra, performing the gamut of musical styles – from Mozart to Montgomery, Shostakovich to Simon. Equally at home giving shining performances of the revered classical symphonic masterpieces as it is with platforming newly minted commissions, the A2SO performs to 70,000 listeners every year in the Ann Arbor area.

Founded in 1928, the A2SO (then known as the Ann Arbor Community Orchestra, and later the Ann Arbor Civic Orchestra) offered its first major program in November 1931. In 1941, distinguished music educator Joseph Maddy, who had founded what would later become the Interlochen Center for the Arts, became the fourth conductor of the Symphony, which at this time was still made up of amateur players. By 1986, the A2SO had become a fully professional orchestra under conductor Carl St.Clair, and has continued to grow in artistic quality ever since. On June 9, 2022, the orchestra announced the appointment of the 2022 Sir Georg Solti Award winner Earl Lee as the orchestra’s 14th Music Director, ushering in a new chapter in the A2SO’s mission and vision.

One of the Midwest’s leading symphony orchestras, the A2SO is critically acclaimed for innovative programming and a deep commitment to artistic excellence. Its musicians are the finest professional performers in the region and around the globe and present concerts in all venues – from area farmers markets to school classrooms, and from libraries to day care and senior centers. Recent innovations include the launch of the A2SO's My Song program, equipping kids with tools and resources to create their own melodies. The culmination of this process is the opportunity for students to hear their compositions performed by a professional musician, building on their foundations and demonstrating the basics of writing for a variety of instruments. Demonstrating the orchestra’s deep commitment to supporting teachers and learning initiatives across the region, the A2SO has developed resources for its Teacher Resource Hub, presented the Link Up performances in partnership with Carnegie Hall, brought its KinderConcerts series into Ann Arbor, Saline, Ypsilanti, Chelsea and Dexter libraries, and presented special performances at C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

A2SO concerts can be heard in person at the historic Michigan Theater and Hill Auditorium, as well as broadcast on the WRCJ and WKAR radio stations. Whether on your device or radio, in the concert hall or the classroom, the A2SO is passionately committed to enriching the culture of the region. We attract, inspire and educate the most diverse audiences possible, foster a growing appreciation for orchestral music and regional talent, and provide imaginative programming through community involvement.