Kristine Jieun Lee is a composer, lyricist, pianist, and arranger based in New York and South Korea, whose work spans musical theatre and classical concert music, with a particular focus on narrative-driven storytelling.

She began studying violin and piano at the age of three, won First Prize at the 11th Korea National Student Music Competition at age nine, and began composing original works by age ten.

Kristine studied classical composition at Gyeongbuk Arts High School, where she received First Prize in Composition at the 2013 Busan Music Association Competition. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition from the Korea National University of Arts in 2019 and later completed her Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

She is a composer in the highly selective and prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop (Advanced), having been accepted into the Advanced Workshop following completion of the core program. The workshop’s distinguished alumni include Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Tom Kitt. During her time at BMI, Kristine’s 10-minute musical Séance and her original full-length musical Pride and Prejudice were showcased.

Kristine’s musical theatre work also includes The Time Machine, a Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) musical selected for NYU Steinhardt’s New Plays for Young Audiences (NPYA) 2026 season. The work will be premiered on June 12 and 13 at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York.

In addition to musical theatre, Kristine has composed extensively for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and dance. Her music blends classical and contemporary influences, often shaped by impressionistic textures, structural clarity, and narrative-driven forms. Notable works include Pompeii Tango for Dance, commissioned by the NYU Tisch Dance Program and premiered in New York in 2022, and The Dew of the Calm Lake, a harp concerto that received an award at the Classic Composition Competition commemorating the first anniversary of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

As a vocal composer, Kristine is particularly drawn to the expressive power of the human voice. Her Korean art song Hol-mang (Ecstatic Longing) won First Prize at the 2022 Hwacheon Bimok Art Song Competition and has been performed more than twenty times in South Korea and the United States. Her song A Song for Farewell received Second Prize at the 2019 Seil Korean Art Song Competition. Her choral work Your Silence, commissioned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Korean Independence Movement, premiered in 2019. She has also received commissions to write for vocalists affiliated with Juilliard, Mannes, Manhattan School of Music, and Indiana University.