The Minnesota Orchestra has announced that conductor Earl Lee will make his company debut this week, stepping in for Eun Sun Kim, who has withdrawn due to illness.

Lee leads three performances on March 19, 20 and 21 of a program featuring Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony alongside Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Pachamama Meets an Ode” and Beethoven’s “Ah! Perfido.”

Soprano Mei Gui Zhang, mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, tenor Jack Swanson and baritone Jarrett Ott join the Minnesota Chorale and Orchestra

Lee has served as Music Director of the Ann Arbor Symphony since 2022, the same year he won the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award. A former cellist, he has guest conducted the orchestras of New York, Boston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Toronto and has a particular affinity for conservatory ensembles, having worked with Juilliard, Curtis and Colburn.