Philip Lee Faculty Recital

Philip Lee currently teaches at Music For Youth, DePaul University Community Music Division, and the Chicago Arts and Music Project. Philip began his studies at the age of 7 at the Music Institute of Chicago with Blake Brasch. Philip went on to study at the Eastman School of Music with David Ying, DePaul University with Brant Taylor, and IndianaUniversity with Peter Stumpf. As a performer, he has previously been a member of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Owensboro Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Philip would like to credit his teachers for being lifelong inspirations who have helped to cultivate his passion and love for music.

Cellist Julia Wen is a performer and Suzuki cello teacher in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. She maintains a home studio, teaches at the Music Institute of Chicago, and is an Assistant Director of the Chicago Suzuki Institute. Julia is passionate about connecting families through music, through both the Suzuki Cello method and early childhood Musikgarten curricula. She has taught private and group lessons at the Arlington Heights School District 25 Music for Youth program, Peabody Preparatory, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s El-Sistema-inspired program, ORCHKids. A certified Suzuki teacher, Ms. Wen completed pedagogy training with Jean Dexter, Dr. Tanya Carey, and Sally Gross. 

In addition to teaching, Julia finds joy serving her community through music by leading worship at her home church or facilitating recitals for her students and peers. She is currently pursuing certification as a therapeutic musician through the Music for Healing and Transition Program. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Julia holds a particular love for cello ensembles. While studying at the Peabody Conservatory, she took advantage of its Creative Access program to recruit fellow cellists as performers for hospital, homeless shelter, and retirement communities. Julia also wrote for the CREDO music blog, a musical organization dedicated to training youth in excellent musicianship and service in the context of Christian fellowship. 

Julia earned her Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore with Alan Stepansky, former Associate Principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic. She completed additional studies in Pedagogy with Bai-Chi Chen and Baroque Cello with Dr. John Moran. Ms. Wen completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Roosevelt University with Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist Richard Hirschl; and was a student of former Lyric Opera of Chicago principal cellist Daniel Morganstern. The teacher who inspired it all, however, was a woman of incomparable talent and dedication: Gilda Barston.

Yu-Ju Sun received her MM degree in piano performance from New England Conservatory where she was a student of Randall Hodgkinson. She also served as a collaborative pianist for the Preparatory and Continuing Education school. In 2004, Ms. Sun received full scholarship from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she worked as an accompanying assistant and studied piano with William Heiles and Dennis Helmrich.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Sun had performed in various music festivals and given recitals including Chopin Conservatory (Poland), Taipei Yoshi Culture Center (Taiwan), Boston Symphony Hall, and Krannert Center for the Performing Art.

Ms. Sun often works with and instructs musicians ranging from young children to graduate-level students. In 2007, Ms. Sun joined the Community Music Division as a faculty at DePaul University, focusing on Suzuki Instruction. She also serves as a collaborative pianist for the cello and viola studio at DePaul University School of Music.