Lee Named Winner of 6th Annual ASCAP Foundation/SJO Commissioning Prize

The ASCAP Foundation and the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (SJO) have announced Jihye Lee as the recipient of the 66th annual ASCAP Foundation/SJO Commissioning Prize.

This prize was created to honor the memory of the trailblazing musician George Duke, who was the SJO co-music director and an ASCAP board member.

Lee, an ASCAP member from New York, was selected as the recipient of the $5,000 commissioning prize and will write a new work for the 68-member ensemble.

Jihye Lee is a jazz composer and bandleader who has written for such leading groups as Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz. She is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music and Manhattan School of Music and organized a successful crowdfunding campaign for her first big band album, April. Lee has performed her music in the United States and Asia at various venues and festivals and is currently working on her second release.

“This is beyond exciting, and I can’t wait to write music for the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra,” commented Lee.