Sean Lee: DHS' Own Piano Man
More by Allison Wetterauw
NEIRAD enilno edition
Very few people can say that they have traveled the world for competitions of their passions; most DHS students have only traveled to FCIAC tournaments no more than a half hour away. Sophomore Sean Lee is an exception; his extraordinary piano playing has taken him all around the world. Lee has played for ten years, and traveled to many piano competitions since a young age. His teacher, Svitlana Foiorit, originally from Russia, has been teaching him to perfect his craft since the beginning.
Sean has traveled to several national and international competitions with his piano skills and done extremely well in them. He has gone to Barcelona, Spain, Quebec, Canada, Washington DC, and everywhere in NYC (Stinvacy Hall, Symphony Space and Carnegie Hall to name a few). He won first prize at the International Music Festival in Puigcerda, Spain against fifty people. He played Mozart’s “Sonata in D” and Chopin’s “Nocturne in C minor”.
“I think Sean’s playing is one of the best. His fingers move very precisely [and] that creates joy in the listener’s mind. I play in a quartet with him and I am more than glad that he is our pianist,” sophomore Ryo Usami said.
Lee’s first competition was on his sixth birthday, during which he played a Bach Minuet from memory and won. He has been competing since then at local and international events. There are around 20 to 30 competitors in an age group and they all play from memory averaging in 5 to 15 minutes per song. The difficulty of the piece is taken into consideration, but the two to five judges use their opinions to decide the winner.
Lee has also played as a guest performer for the Greenwich Symphony, Plainfield Symphony, and the International Classical Artists (ICA) Symphony, which is a part of the New York Philharmonic.
“For as long as I've known him, he's played piano” said junior Kevin Koenitzer.
With all the accomplishments Lee has made over his ten years of playing he has practiced a lot on his Yamaha grand piano. “I don’t focus on a set number of hours a day, I practice what I need to get done,” Sean said. One can only imagine what a task memorizing a ten minute piece and playing it for an audience would be.
“I’ve always been blown away by Sean’s technique, and he’s so motivated in the music he tackles. I was amazed by his Rachmaninov performance last Tri-M concert… Rachmaninov’s a favorite of mine and Sean mastered the pierce with a voice of his own,” said senior pianist Zach Heyde.
Lee’s favorite composers are Chopin and Rachmoninov, and he loves classical music in general, but you will find a lot of modern music on his play list as well.
When asked to name an accomplishment that has made him the most proud he surprisingly answered, “I like to make my audience enjoy my music.” If you ever have heard Lee play, you know how amazing it is. Sean doesn’t plan on becoming pro, he views his love for the piano as a just something he does, and he knows he will always have it with him.
