Dr. Hae-Jong Lee, Director

Dr. Hae-Jong Lee, a native of South Korea, has directed, for more than twenty five years, church choirs, high school choirs, honor choirs, college choirs, community choirs and professional choirs in Korea and the United States.  He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Seoul National University and his Master of Music degree from the Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ.  Lee received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting and literature from the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL.  At the University of Illinois he directed the University of Illinois Chorus and served as Chorus Master of the University of Illinois Opera Company.  While staying in Princeton, he toured Taiwan, Korea, France (Colmar International Festival), and Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, with the renowned Westminster Choir. He, as vocalist, had performed with major orchestras including New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Luke Orchestra, LA Philharmonic Orchestra, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the baton of world class conductors including Kurt Mazur, Wolfgang Sawallish, Zdenek Makal, Helmuth Rilling, Joseph Flummerfelt, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. As voice teacher, he has taught numerous singers including wide range of ages in both Korea and the U.S.  He joined the Dana School of Music as Director of Choral Activities in 2002.  At the Dana School of Music he directs Dana choral ensembles and teaches undergraduate choral/instrumental conducting and advanced choral conducting classes.  He also supervises graduate choral conducting students.  Lee has been the Chorus Master of the Opera Western Reserve since 2005.  He has been directing the Cleveland Korean Presbyterian Church Choir and Chamber Orchestra since 2004.  His choral music review appears regularly in Choral Journal, the official national publication of ACDA, of which he is a registered choral reviewer.  Lee’s conducting teachers include Joseph Flummerfelt, James Jordan, Andrew Megill, Fred Stoltzfus, Don Moses (choral conducting); Donald Schleiger and Bong-Heun Yoo (orchestral conducting).  He is interested in performing not only pure choral compositions but also choral/orchestral works.  He remains active as guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for a variety of choral events in the U.S. and Korea.  Some of his recent activities include his appearance with the Pusan City Choir (professional choir) in Pusan, Korea as a guest conductor and in the Ohio Music Educators Association conference as a clinician presenting “Choral Music in Korea”.  He is an active member of professional organizations, including American Choral Directors Association, International Federation for Choral Music, Chorus America, and The National Association for Music Education.

Jan Crews, Accompanist

Jan Crews joins the Stambaugh Chorus as accompanist in 2010. Jan was playing the piano by ear at age three-and-a-half, began piano and theory lessons at age five, and began accompanying church and school choruses at age ten. During elementary and high school, she studied at the Rollins College School of Creative Arts in Winter Park, Florida. Principal teachers were Katherine Carlo, Phyllis Rappaport and Leonidas Sarakatsannis. With a repertoire spanning classical, show tunes, and pop oldies, Jan’s experience includes study with world-renowned teacher Nadia Boulanger, seven years as staff accompanist at Walt Disney World, and nine years “making beautiful music to shop by” at Washington, DC area Nordstrom stores. She has extensive choral experience as an alto with symphonic choruses: The Washington (DC) Chorus, Tucson (AZ) Symphony Orchestra Chorus and, since 2009, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. Jan holds an Associate of Arts degree in piano performance from Manatee Community College in Bradenton, FL; a Bachelor of Science degree in computer and information systems from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD; and the Juris Doctor degree from Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, DC.