Tenor JAMES LEE studied at the Yeungnam University in Kyongsan, South Korea and the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany. His operatic carreer started in South Korea, where his first roles were Alfred and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore and Pong in Turandot.
2008 – 2010 Performed in South Korea : Die Fledermaus (Alfred and Eisenstein), L’elisir d’amore (Nemorino), Turandot (Pong) / Korean creative operas : Dong-i in Woo, Jong Uek’s Opera Love of Buckwheat, Title role in Park, Chang Min’s Opera Wangsan Heu-ui, Mong-Wan in Lim, June Hee’s Opera A match made in Heaven.
2011 – 2013 First engagement in Europe: Bucharest National Opera, Romania.
2012 First prize International Singing Competition Masters of Lyrical Art – Valentin Teodorian in Bucharest.
2013 First prize and special prize at the Competizione dell’Opera 2013 in Linz.
2013 I Vespri Siciliani (Arrigo) in Theater Freiburg, Germany.
2014 Turandot (Calaf) in Graz Opera, Austria (Director : Marco Arturo Marelli) / Aida (Radamès) in Opernfestspiele St.Margarethen, Austria (Director : Robert Dornhelm) / Carmen (Don José) in Theater Freiburg, Germany
2015 Il Trovatore (Manrico) in Theater Freiburg, Germany / Un ballo in maschera (Riccardo) in Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken, Germany
2016 Aida (Radamès) in Cairo Opera House, Egypt / Turandot (Calaf) in Teatr Wielki w Łodzi, Poland (Conductor : Antoni Wit) / Aida (Radamès) in Schlossfestspiele Schwerin, Germany / The Best opera, best scenes Opera Gala Concert in Daegu Opera House, Korea (Conductor : Daniel Lipton)
2017 Aida (Radamès) in Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theater, Georgia / Messa da Requiem (G. Verdi) in Teatro Politeama Catanzaro, Italy / Turandot (Calaf) in Daegu Opera House, South Korea (Conductor : János Ács , Director : Hiroki Ihara) / Turandot (Calaf) in Teatr Wielki w Łodzi, Poland
2018 Aida (Radamès) in National Theatre Prague, Czech Republic / Messa da Requiem (G. Verdi) in Teatro Veriano Luchetti, Basilica di San Pietro, Tuscania, Italy (Conductor : Isaac Karabtchevsky) / Aida (Radamès) in Cairo Opera House, Egypt / Aida (Radamès) in Theater Dortmund, Germany
2019 Aida (Radamès) in National Theatre Prague, Czech Republic / Samson et Dalila (Samson) in Teatr Wielki w Łodzi, Poland / Turandot (Calaf) in Theater Dortmund, Germany / Turandot (Calaf) in International Istanbul Opera Festival, Turkey / Turandot (Calaf) in Seoul Arts Center, South Korea / Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton) in Theater Dortmund, Germany / Belcanto Operngala in Alte Oper Frankfurt, Germany / Aida (Radamès) in Luxor Festaval – Temple of Hatshepsut, Egypt (Conductor : Oksana Lyniv)
2020 Tosca (Mario Cavaradossi) in Teatro di San Carlo, Italy / Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton) in Theater Dortmund, Germany / Aida (Radamès) in The State Opera in Prague, Czech Republic / Aida (Radamès) in Opera Nationala Romana Iasi, Romania / Il Trovatore (Manrico) in Linz State Theatre, Austria / Quanto amore! Operngala(Theater Dortmund) in Theater Winterthur, Swiss / Fernand Cortez (Telasco) in Theater Dortmund, Germany / Aida (Radamès) in Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, München, Germany / Carmen – Don José : Theater Dortmund, Germany
2021 Tosca (Mario Cavaradossi) in Theater Dortmund, Germany
2022 Fernand Cortez (Telasco) in Theater Dortmund, Germany / Turandot (Calaf) in Daegu Opera House, South Korea
2023 La fanciulla del West (Dick Johnson) in Theater Hagen, Germany / Nixon in China (Mao Tse-tung) in Theater Dortmund, Germany