Sydney Lee ’22 MMus, a doctoral cello student of Hans Jørgen Jensen at the Bienen School of Music, was named the inaugural recipient of the Meadowmount School of Music's $50,000 Gurrena Fellowship.

The fellowship provides generous support to an exceptional student artist at Meadowmount School of Music at the end of each season. The purpose of the fellowship is to enable extraordinary young artists who pursue their careers with vigor and passion to do so without the burden of financial constraint.

During the fellowship year, the recipient receives a generous housing allowance; professional artist management services, including consulting by Monica Felkel Creative Partners; featured concert engagements supported by Meadowmount School of Music; and continued training by Meadowmount faculty for the summer of 2023.

Meadowmount, the summer program for young string players that counts Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and Joshua Bell among its alumni, marked its 78th year this summer. The fellowship announcement was made at the final student concert of this year’s session, at which Lee performed Schumann’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105.

Lee has also won first prize in the 2022 Washington International Competition for Strings and second prize in the Classic Strings International Cello Competition. As a member of the Bienen School’s Galvin Cello Quartet, she was named a winner of the Concert Artists Guild’s Victor Elmaleh Competition. She recently completed her master’s degree at the Bienen School of Music under the tutelage of Professor Jensen.

Photo by Todd Rosenberg