Born in Seoul, Wonju Lee began studying music and piano with his mother, a soprano and choral conductor, at the age of five. During high school, he took trumpet lessons from Myungkyu Kang of the Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra and worked with classical and jazz trumpet players including Gihae Kim, Munsang Jung, Jeongdeok Kim, Hikmet Altunbaşlier, and Erden Bilgen. Living in Turkey since 2012, Wonju Lee studied piano with Gulnara Jorovekova at the Erciyes University Faculty of Fine Arts, where he graduated first in his class. He also received certification in trumpet performance from the London College of Music at the University of West London. For six years, he has worked on classical music and jazz in the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Ankara’s Korean Cultural Center while also playing concerts with the Wonju Lee Quintet. The group’s repertoire includes original compositions as well as songs from genres spanning bebop, modern, Latin music, and funk. The quintet will be performing on September 29 at Nardis as part of the 32nd Akbank Jazz Festival.
Wonju Lee: Trumpet
Berk Kurdoğlu: Piano
Erdoğan Toloğlu: Guitar
Gökhan Över: Bass
Serkan Alagök: Drums