The Yemel Philharmonic Society of Toronto
About the choir
The Yemel Philharmonic Society (YPS) is a non-for-profit organization founded in 1998 by a group of Korean Canadians committed to sharing their passion for music with the community of the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. Since its inception, the mission of the Yemel Philharmonic Society of Toronto is to inspire, educate and enrich our communities and to promote unity through music.
The Yemel Philharmonic Society is a mixed-voice, community chorus of 30-50 singers. For the past 24 years, the Yemel Philharmonic Society of Toronto presented 1-3 annual concerts, young artists programs supporting emerging Korean Canadian musicians, and other musical programs to promote well-being of our community members across generations. Over the years, the Yemel Philharmonic Society has gained a reputation through its commitment to high level of musical performances that are unique and innovative. Some of our performance highlights include transcribing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and other orchestral symphonic repertoire into new innovative choral form by Yemel’s founding artistic director, Sung Soon Kim, and promoting new compositions by Korean Canadian composers.
Yemel means ‘Echoes of Art’ in Korean; therefore, we are proud to have become one of the finest art organizations that represent and express the Korean Citizens’ culture, emotion and pride.
Jennifer Min-Young Lee
Artistic Director and Conductor
A nominee of the Ontario Arts Council’s Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting, Jennifer Min-Young Lee is a Korean-Canadian conductor, music educator and vocal pedagogue who established herself as a respected musical leader in the Toronto music scene.
Lee served as Associate Conductor of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for three seasons where she conducted season concerts, Singsation Saturday outreach programs, and prepared the ensemble for regular appearances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. During her appointment, she prepared the chorus for TSO in multiple performances including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Brahms’ German Requiem, Vaughan William’s Sea Symphony, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, Handel’s Messiah and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe.
As a passionate advocate for music education, Lee is committed to educating and inspiring young musicians. Since 2008, she has been employed as a full-time high school music teacher in York Region District School Board. She teaches vocal, piano accompanying and instrumental classes, and choral and wind ensembles under her leadership regularly perform and receive recognition at festivals in Canada, United States and Europe.
Committed to choral excellence, Lee has worked with the complete spectrum of voices. She was assistant conductor of the Bach Chamber Youth Choir, as well as the Ontario Youth Choir. In Rochester, she directed numerous ensembles including Aldersgate Methodist Chancel Choir, Repertory Singers, Eastman Chamber Singers, Bach Cantata Series and University of Rochester Women’s Chorus. As a passionate vocal pedagogue, she also maintained a private voice studio as a secondary voice teacher at the Eastman School of Music. Equally experienced in orchestral conducting, Lee made her professional orchestral conducting debut in Toronto with the Orchestra Toronto during the 2015/2016 season and served as Assistant Conductor.
Lee holds a Master of Music degree in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester where she also completed graduate vocal pedagogy studies. Lee holds Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees from the University of Western Ontario, London, with additional studies at the University of Toronto. Lee has served as a conducting fellow for the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain, Allegra International Orchestral Conducting Institute in Bulgaria, Yale School of Music Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Eastman Advanced Conducting Institute, Orchestra Toronto Apprentice Program, and Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. Most recently, she completed intensive studies in opera conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Opera Bootcamp.
Lee currently serves as artistic director of Yemel Philharmonic Society of Toronto, Chorus York, and directs music at Young Nak Korean Presbyterian Church.
Hyuntak Lee
Collaborative Pianist
Hyuntak Lee began his soloist career with regional appearances throughout the Republic of Korea. Mr. Lee immigrated to Canada where he began to concertize and commence studies with internationally renowned concert pianist/recording artist Lawrence Pitchko. He also studied piano performance at the University of Toronto and Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
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Mr. Lee made his Toronto debut solo piano recital in 2004 at Walter Hall, one of Toronto's finest recital auditoriums. Since then, he has been invited to play at Sunderland Hall, Halton Hills Cultural Centre, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Glenn Gould Studio with Kindred Spirits Orchestra under Kristian Alexander playing Mozart's PIano Concerto. He also performed at cities in Europe such as St. Petersburg, Madrid and Burgos where he won the first prize in the International Music Festival Competition.
