Like any 16-year-old, Min Lee is eager to get her driver's license, and is especially looking forward to traveling alone on the highway.
But unlike most teens her age, she squeezes her driving practice into a schedule that includes international concert engagements and rigorous training as a violinist at the Yale School of Music, where she holds the distinction of being the youngest student ever admitted.
Lee began studying there under the tutelage of world-renowned violinist Erick Friedman when she was only 14 years old. At that time, she had already earned many accolades for her musical talent.
A native of Singapore, Lee began studying the violin at age two-and-a-half, following in the footsteps of her three older sisters, who had each studied a musical instrument. She chose the violin, she confesses, because of her competitive streak -- Lee wanted to keep up with the sister closest in age to her, who was studying that instrument. Before long, however, the violin had won her heart.
"My mother, who also played violin, would practice with me during those first years, and she always made it so much fun for me," recalls Lee. "Practicing was never a chore."
By the time she was 4 years old -- and already hailed as a child prodigy -- Lee was studying with the concertmaster of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. At age 6, she was taking intensive master lessons in Beijing with Lin Yao Ji of the Central Conservatory of Music. At age 8, having won the Best Performer Award at Singapore's National Music Competition, Lee was shuttling between the United States and Prague to study with such violin masters as the late Josef Gingold, Vaclav Snitil and Henry Roth. At age 9, she was enrolled in a special pre-college preparatory program in music at the University of Michigan as a student of Stephen Shipps. At age 11, she out-performed violinists nearly twice her age to earn her second major award -- first prize and the "laureate" title at the Kocian International Violin Competition in Prague.
Before entering Yale's School of Music, Lee studied for a year at Oberlin College, where she was enrolled in a bachelor's degree music program. While there, she also commuted to New Haven to take lessons from Friedman, a member of Yale's faculty since 1989 and an internationally renowned concert violinist. Friedman, who has taught violin for more than two decades, was immediately impressed with the young girl's musical ability.
"Min is an extraordinary talent who has a certain genius for the violin, and 'genius' is not a word that I use lightly," says Friedman, himself a former prodigy and a protégé of Jascha Heifetz. "She has tremendous physical ability -- an amazing adaptability of hands that only comes along very rarely in a generation. But coupled with that, she has this inner security that goes beyond the violin, a very strong inner core. And she has a tremendous ability to perform."
While traveling between New Haven and Michigan for her lessons with Friedman, Lee decided to apply to the Yale School of Music so she could undertake more intensive study with the master violinist. She expects to earn the Certificate in Performance this May.
Only a handful of young musicians are admitted each year into the three-year Certificate in Performance program, which is designed for gifted students who do not hold bachelor's degrees. In addition to study with a master teacher, students in the program perform in the Philharmonia Orchestra at Yale, chamber ensembles and other music groups at school, and take one academic course each term. The Certificate in Music is converted to a master's degree in music once students have earned a bachelor's degree.
Lee says the Yale program has allowed her to perfect her playing while giving her opportunities to perform. She practices from three to five hours each day, both on campus and in the New Haven apartment she shares with her mother. The two make frequent trips back to Singapore to visit with Lee's father, a doctor, and her three sisters. Lee credits the commitment of her mother, who has always traveled with her for studies and performances abroad, with helping her on her path to musical stardom.
Earlier this year, Lee made her American debut in a concert with the Washington (D.C.) Symphony Orchestra before an audience that included high-ranking government officials, among them former Secretary of State Alexander Haig. Her recent appearances -- which have received rave reviews -- have included the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Jupiter Symphony in New York City. Since coming to Yale, she has also performed and recorded with such groups as the Prague Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, her upcoming appearances include a concert with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in February.
Lee's repertoire includes both violin classics and lesser-known works, which she performs on a 1704 Guarnerius filius Andrea violin. She purchased her treasured instrument (which she has given a secret pet name and refers to as a "he") two years ago with the help of a fundraising drive sponsored by Singapore's National Arts Council. Singapore also recently gave her its Cultural Medallion, its highest honor for the arts.
Although she has lived (in her words) an "accelerated life," Lee has no regrets about missing out on some of the "normal" activities of her many teenaged friends across the globe. She says her years of travel abroad have been a more exciting education for her, and she has never felt pressured to go beyond what she can handle. She credits all of her teachers with helping her avoid the burnout or other problems that can quickly end the musical careers of child prodigies.
"All of the people who have guided me have recommended that I don't go too fast, and my parents made sure I wasn't pushed too much," the young violinist says. "So up to now I've really been able to live my life the way I've wanted to."
In her free time, Lee enjoys listening to opera, playing ping pong, watching tennis competitions, shopping, sending e-mails to her friends and viewing old movies, especially ones starring Audrey Hepburn.
The violinist also enjoys talking to young children about music and her life as a performer. Since she was 10, Lee has often been featured in "Young People Concerts," which give her the chance to interact with her young audiences.
"I'd like to convince as many kids as I can that classical music is a great experience, and that if they allow their imagination to travel, it can take them places they've never been to before," Lee says.
After earning her Certificate in Performance, Lee hopes to work toward her bachelor's degree, and is particularly interested in studying Egyptian history. She also plans to continue performing as often as possible. On stage, she says, she never feels nervous.
"I've been performing since I was five, and it's something I love doing," Lee explains. "It gives me a big rush going on stage."
Lee's teacher is confident that, with the proper guidance and attitude, his student will someday go from being recognized as a child prodigy to achieving international recognition as a mature artist.
"I'd like to see her take place her place as one of the important violinists of the 21st century," says Friedman. "I think that, with maturity, she can."
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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