Conductor Earl Lee Steps in on Short Notice at Minnesota Orchestra This Weekend
[MINNEAPOLIS, MN, March 19, 2026]—Conductor Earl Lee makes his Minnesota Orchestra debut this week, stepping in for Eun Sun Kim, who has withdrawn due to illness.
Lee will lead three performances on March 19, 20, and 21 of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony—the same work with which he made his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut to rave reviews, stepping in for an ailing Zubin Mehta last summer.
The program also includes Gabriela Lena Frank’s Pachamama Meets an Ode and Beethoven’s “Ah! Perfido.” Soprano Mei Gui Zhang, mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, tenor Jack Swanson, baritone Jarrett Ott, and the Minnesota Chorale join Lee and the Orchestra for this subscription program.
Music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony since 2022 and the winner that same year of the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Earl Lee continues to make his mark on major orchestras in the U.S. and Canada, including those of New York, Boston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. A former cellist, Lee brings a chamber musician’s ear and collaborative spirit to the repertoire he conducts, and particularly enjoys leading conservatory orchestras (Juilliard, Curtis, Colburn, etc.). In Ann Arbor, he has brought his inquisitive spirit to programming, melding works from the canon with music of today to create bold and energetic programs.
Lee’s upcoming performances include leading the Colburn Orchestra (March 29) at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Boston Symphony Orchestra (April 14) at Symphony Hall, and Ann Arbor Symphony (April 25) in the U.S.; and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in Toronto (May 1), Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (May 9), and debuting with the Calgary Philharmonic on May 22 and 23 in Canada.