2021 Competition Winner

Cadee Lee, clarinet

Cadee Lee is a junior at Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, NJ, and attends Juilliard Pre-College as a clarinet major under the tutelage of Professor Ayako Oshima Neidich. She is a grand prize and scholarship winner at International Young Artists Competition, first prize winner and judge’s pick at Vivo International Music Competition, a finalist and winner at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and a silver medal winner at the National Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. She was selected as the principal clarinetist at the Northern New Jersey JHS Symphonic Winds and Orchestra in 2019. Currently, Cadee is the first clarinetist in the Traumerei Clarinet Quintet of the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program. She toured seven cities in Spain two summers ago with her group. Cadee has attended masterclasses taught by Charles Neidich, Anthony McGill, Jon Manasse, Alan Kay, and Toyin Spellman-Diaz. She has performed numerous times at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and DiMenna Center in New York City since she was nine years old. Besides her love of music, Cadee also enjoys photography and baking.

NJIO sponsors its Young Artist Concerto Competition every spring. The Competition is open to musicians from throughout New Jersey, currently in grades 6-11. Winners will receive an opportunity to perform with the orchestra during the following season. The winners represent the brightest stars among young artists from the Garden State.