MEZZO
The mezzo-soprano Lee Danbi was born in 1995 in South Korea. She began her vocal studies at Chung-Ang University, graduating in 2017. In 2022, she received her diploma with highest honors and distinction from the “Arrigo Boito” Conservatory in Parma under the guidance of Prof. Donatella Saccardi and Prof. Stefano Giannini. In 2021 she attended the Verdian Academy of the Teatro Regio di Parma. In 2022 she studied at the Georg Solti Accademia and at the Gstaad Vocal Academy. She completed her advanced training at the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in 2024.
In 2024 she made her debut at the Verdi Festival in Parma performing Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, conducted by Fabio Biondi with staging by Daniele Menghini. She then sang Mahler’s Second Symphony at La Fenice in Venice under Myung-Whun Chung, later performing the same work in Seoul with the KBS Symphony Orchestra. In the opera circuit of the Marche region she again sang Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, and in 2025 she performed Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in the theatres of Fermo, Fano, and Ascoli Piceno. During the 2023–24 season she sang in Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody at the Maggio Fiorentino conducted by Min Chung; she then performed in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Seoul and, again at the Maggio Musicale in December 2023, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle conducted by Lorenzo Fratini. In 2022 she performed the role of Porzia in Aldo Finzi’s Shylock, given for the first time at the Maffeiana Hall of the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; she sang Flora in Verdi’s La traviata in Collecchio, and in Bologna she performed Amneris in Aida at the Arena del Sole. In 2020, Danbi Lee made her debut as the Abbess in Puccini’s Suor Angelica for Parma Lirica.
Among her upcoming engagements are Zulma in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri at the Teatro Coccia in Novara, and the Nurse in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Seoul Opera.
She has distinguished herself in numerous international competitions: in 2019 she won First Prize at the 9th International Opera Singing Competition “Pietro Mongini,” Second Prize at the 13th International Opera Competition “Magda Olivero,” and special awards at the 26th International Competition “Riccardo Zandonai” and at the 1st International Opera Singing Competition “Giuditta Pasta.” In 2020 she received a special award at the 8th International Opera Singing Competition “Premio Fausto Ricci.” In 2022 she was granted a scholarship by the 24th International Competition for Opera Singers “Città di Alcamo,” was a finalist in the International Competition “Voci Verdiane Città di Busseto,” and won the Critics’ Prize at the 8th International Singing Competition “Renata Tebaldi.”
