Conductor Joongbae Jee, mainly active in Europe, was principal conductor and deputy general music director (stellvertreter des Generalmusikdirektor und 1.Kapellmeister) of Theater Ulm and Ulm Philharmonic Orchestra, where German Maestro Herbert von Karajan once was the chief conductor, from the season 2015/16 to 2017/18 and Theater Trier and Philharmonic Orchestra from 2012/13 to 2014/15.
Joongbae Jee was selected as one of 10 "Maestro von Morgen" by the German Music Association, served as a member of the Conductor Forum (Dirigentenforum) of the German Music Council (Deutsche Musikrat) and also learned from Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Marc Albrecht, Jun Märkl, Eri Klas and Sian Edwards specially, he was greatly influenced by Finnish Maestro Jukka-Pekka Saraste while working as a personal assistant conductor to him since 2014.
Joongbae Jee reached the final of the 2009 Besançon Conducting Competition and, as the first Asian to do so, won the German Operetta Conductor Prize, which was co-hosted by the German Music Council and the Leipzig Opera Theater (Oper Leipzig) in 2012 and was broadcast live throughout Europe via the German MDR Radio. As an additional prize, Joongbae Jee conducted the production of Leipzig Opera J.Strauss II's ‘The Bat’. And he served as music director and conductor of the Opera Festival ‘Oper Oder-Spree’ in the same year.
In the field of contemporary music, An invitation in 2010/11 for a tour of the TIMF Ensemble, lead him to places such as the Vatican, the United Nations in Geneva and to the Camp Libre Festival in France. In 2005, Jee was awarded a TIMF scholarship and conducted the “Ensemble Modern” (Frankfurt) as conducting assistant to Frank Ollu. More recently, Jee worked with the composers Johannes Maria Staud and Martin Matalon, and also with the conductor Frank Ollu at the “International Ensemble Modern Academy” (IEMA), conducting the IEMA Orchestra at New Music festivals such as “Transart 09” (Bozen, Italy) and “Klangspuren 200” (Schwaz, Austria).
In 2015, in the closing concert "The Eurasia Friendship Express" which soprano Sumi Jo also participated in and was hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea and sponsored by the German Government in commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of Liberation of Korea at the square of "Brandenburg Gate", the symbol of German unification, he conducted Korea-German Union Orchestra as the representative of Korea.
Joongbae Jee’s major activities include conducting various European orchestras such as WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, MDR-Sinfonieorchester, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Göttinger Symphonie Orchester, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Ensemble Resonanz, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Baden-Badener Philharmonie, Kurpfalz Chamber Orchestra, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, Leipzig Opera House, The Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern Academy Orchestra and conducting numerous operas, ballets and orchestras such as Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin’, Verdi’s ‘Aida’, ‘Nabucco’ and ‘Rigoletto’, Tchaikovsky’s opera 'Eugen Onegin', ‘Queen of Spades’ and Ballet ‘Swan Lake’, Strauss’s ‘Die Fledermaus(The Bat), Smetana’s ‘The bartered Bride’, Prokofiev's ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Gounod’s ‘Faust’, Massenet ‘Werther’, Mozart’s ‘La Clemenza di Tito’, ‘Don Giovanni’, ‘The marriage of Figaro’ and ‘The magic Flute’, Bizet’s ‘Carmen’, Gluck's ‘Orfeo and Euridice’, Orff’s ‘Die Kluge’, Ravel’s ‘L'Heure espagnole, Floyd’s ‘Susanna’, Lehar’s ‘Die Lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow)’, Lortzing's ‘Der Wildschütz’, Mascagni's ‘Zanetto’, Kalman's ‘Gräfin Mariza’, Schubert’s ‘Die Freunde von Salamanka’, Offenbach’s ‘Orphee Aux Enfers’ and Schubert-Hans Zender’s ‘Winterreise’ which was newly tried as modern ballet.
In Korea, he conducted regular performances of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestr, Busan Philharmonic Orchestra and Seongnam Symphony Orchestra and the Seoul Arts Center's special performance of Opera Puccini's ‘Turandot’ in 2013 and the Mozart's ‘Magic Flute’ in 2017. In addition, he conducted KBS Symphony Orchestra, Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, Seongnam Symphony Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra, Wonju Symphony Orchestra, Cheongju Philharmonic Orchestra, Jeonju Symphony Orchestra, Prime Philharmonic and Gwangju Symphony Orchestra. He also conducted German tour performances of Seoul Tutti Ensemble hosted by Korean Culture Center in Germany in memory of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement and the establishment of the Provisional Government of Korea.
In addition to stage performances of various genres from baroque and authentic performance to contemporary music, Joongbae Jee taught opera and orchestras at the Conservatorium Maastricht in the Netherlands and taught Orchestral Conducting as a main subject at Mannheim University of music and performing arts in Germany. He also continued teaching students as an educator at conducting masterclass with many symphony orchestras in Germany.
In 2021, he conducted regular performances of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestra(etc), and participated as a conductor and artistc director in Opera "Paradise on the Road" by Younghi Pagh-Paan which had its World Premiere in November.
He works as an exclusive conductor for Younghi Pagh-Paan In,ternational Composition Prize in Germany and plans to conduct the opening concert of the "NOW! Festival 2022" in Essen, Germany with Bochumer Symphoniker.
He graduated from Seoul Arts High School, Korea National University of Arts as a pre-college student, Seoul National University and the Mannheim University of music and performing arts. He currently resides in Germany.
