David Chungin Lee is a Korean American percussionist, composer, and educator based in Los Angeles. A versatile artist equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, he has appeared at venues such as Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall, and in 2026 joins the World Percussion Group for its European tour, performing and giving masterclasses across leading conservatories and concert halls. Lee’s recent orchestral and festival highlights include serving as the 2023 Charles Owen Percussion Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School, an award given to the top auditioning percussionist, and selection as a percussion fellow for the 2024 and 2025 Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.

He performs regularly with ensembles including the Civic Orchestra of Los Angeles and has worked under conductors such as Speranza Scappucci, Xian Zhang, and Simone Young. Earlier in his career, he won the Eugene Symphony Guild Young Artists Competition senior division as the youngest competitor that year, performing Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings with the Eugene Symphony. A committed advocate for new music, Lee has premiered and recorded works in close collaboration with composers and colleagues. These projects include Tesla’s Harmony and Yuen with Pius Cheung; and Cheung’s ballet Heaven and Earth.

He also partnered with composer Eunike Tanzil on the marimba duet Hide and Seek. Lee’s repertoire choices emphasize color, rhythm, and narrative clarity, and his chamber projects often foreground cross-cultural dialogue.
 Pedagogy and community engagement are central to his work. Lee has led masterclasses throughout Oregon and contributed to youth mentorship through the Seattle Music Partners program. At the University of Southern California, where he is pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, he serves as Assistant Lecturer of Percussion and Graduate Teaching Assistant, specializing in performance, music technology, music education, and intermedia.

His recent interdisciplinary project, Drown for vibraphone, percussion, tape, and video art (2025), extends his interest in connecting concert performance with meaningful storytelling for diverse audiences. Lee holds a BM (summa cum laude) from the University of Oregon and an MM from The Juilliard School, and is completing his DMA at USC Thornton School of Music under Joseph Pereira and Jim Babor. His principal teachers include Pius Cheung, Sean Wagoner, Dan Druckman, Markus Rhoten, Joseph Pereira, and Jim Babor."