James Lee

South Korean tenor James Lee’s repertoire centres on dramatic Italian opera, particularly Puccini and Verdi. Alongside Calaf, Radamès and Don Carlo, he sings Paul in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt.

Calaf in Turandot has featured prominently in recent seasons. In 2025/26, Mr. Lee sang the role at Landestheater Niederbayern and appeared as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Staatstheater Cottbus. He returned to Opera på Skäret in Sweden as Calaf in a new production in summer 2025, following appearances in the role at Theater Magdeburg and in Skopje in 2024/25. His other Calaf engagements include Sofia Opera and Ballet, the Belogradchik Opera Festival, Daegu International Opera Festival, Latvian National Opera and State Opera Stara Zagora.

At the Latvian National Opera in 2023/24, Mr. Lee sang the title role in the Italian five-act version of Verdi’s Don Carlo, conducted by Frédéric Chaslin and directed by Claus Guth, alongside Radamès in Aida and Calaf. In May 2024, he made his role debut as Paul in Die tote Stadt with Korea National Opera at the Seoul Arts Center under Lothar Koenigs. His Puccini repertoire also includes Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West, which he first sang at Theater Hagen and subsequently at Opera Hedeland in Denmark, and Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, a role he debuted at the Saaremaa Opera Festival and sang with Fundació Òpera Catalunya in 2024.

As Radamès, Mr. Lee has appeared at the National Theatre in Prague, Cairo Opera House, the Luxor Festival at the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, the Opera Festival St. Margarethen, the Schwerin Castle Festival, Oper Dortmund and Skopje. He also sang it in Franco Zeffirelli’s production for the State Opera of Georgia. Other roles include Don José in Carmen, Arrigo in I vespri siciliani, Manrico in Il trovatore, Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera, Cavaradossi in Tosca and Samson in Samson et Dalila.

Mr. Lee has appeared at opera houses in Graz, Freiburg, Saarbrücken and Linz. Calaf also took him to Daegu Opera House, Seoul Arts Center, the International Istanbul Opera Festival and Teatr Wielki in Łódź under Antoni Wit, where he made his debut as Samson. Earlier Dortmund engagements included Pinkerton, Cavaradossi and Télasco in Spontini’s Fernand Cortez. His concert work includes Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Würzburger Oratorienchor in 2025, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Vogtland Philharmonie in 2024 and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria in Schweinfurt.

Mr. Lee studied voice at Yeungnam University in Gyeongsan and the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf. His competition prizes (2011–2013) include First Prize at the Valentin Teodorian competition in Bucharest and First Prize and the Special Prize at the Competizione dell’Opera in Linz.