JON LEE

AGE 41  I  SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA  I  UNITED STATES
SOFTWARE ENGINEER

A decade ago, Milwaukee-born Jon Lee moved to San Francisco from Boston, having completed both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and subsequently working as a software engineer for seven years. His cross-country relocation was to accept a new position at Apple, and he didn’t think that classical music—which he had studied privately throughout his youth—would reenter his life in any big way. But, he says, after sight reading chamber music in bars with freelance and amateur musicians, he was inspired to return to serious piano study. He’s since won or placed in competitions in San Diego, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C., and has had the opportunity to perform in California, Massachusetts, Texas, Washington, and the District of Columbia. The Cliburn Amateur, he says “is, in a big way, a pinnacle in my journey.”

Repertoire

Preliminary Round

HANDEL Suite No. 2 in F Major, HWV 427
SCHUMANN Toccata in C Major, op. 7

Semifinal Round 

BACH–RACHMANINOV Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006
SCHUBERT–LISZT “Gretchen am Spinnrade”
CHOPIN Etude in F Major, op. 10, no. 8
SCRIABIN Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp Minor, op. 19 (“Sonata-Fantasy”)

Final Round 

PROKOFIEV Concerto No. 3 in C Major, op. 26 (III)