Sontraud Speidel
was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, and started piano lessons at the age of five. At the age of eleven, she entered the Hochschule fuer Musik Karlsruhe where she studied with Irene Slavin (a Russian pedagogue) and Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen.

Then followed studies with Branka Musulin in Frankfurt, Germany, Stefan Askenase in Brussels, Belgium and Géza Anda in Luzerne, Switzerland. After winning various awards in Germany (amongst others at the age of 16, the first prize in a competition including all schools in Germany), she won the first prize of the Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition in Washington D.C. She is also the recipient of the Boston Symphony's Jackson Prize for Modern Music and Italy's Ettore Pozzoli Prize.

Sontraud Speidel has given recitals, concerts with orchestra, chamber music concerts, performed in festivals (e. g. Schwetzinger Festspiele; Bayreuther Festspiele; Carinthischer Sommer, Austria; Raritaeten der Klaviermusik in Husum; Brucknertage Linz, Austria; Brahmsfestival Luebeck; Rostropowitsch-Festival Kronberg; Kammermusikfest Luebeck; Klangbogen Wien, Austria; Kfar Blum Chamber Music Festival, Israel; MusikFEST Minnesota/USA; Euro-Event, Korea; „Kultursommer am Maerkischen Meer“); played on radio and television, and made recordings in most European countries, and in the former Soviet Union, Canada, the United States, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Brasil.

She has conducted master classes iin Maryland, Tennessee, Alabama, Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota and California as well as master classes in Germany, Vienna (Austria), Israel and Greece. In 1979, she was invited by former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to perform at the Palais Schaumburg in Bonn.

She was "Distinguished Visiting Professor" at California State University, USA, and Canada: at the Université de Montréal, at the King´s University Edmonton and at the University of Alberta. She was also guest professor at Tel Aviv University/Israel; at the Bologna Conservatory/Italy; the Conservatoire Royal Bruxelles, Belgium; Norges musikkhøgskole Oslo, Norway; the Royal Academy of Music, London; the Yehudi Menuhin School (England); the Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea; the Seoul National University; the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul, Korea; the Seoul National University/Korea; the Shih Chien University Taipeh/Taiwan, with TO-ON in Tokyo, Japan, and with the National Conservatory in Beijing/China.

Franziska Lee
finished her music studies in the class of Prof. HeeSung Joo, at Seoul National University, as year’s best. She came to Germany as a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to complete her master's degree and her soloist exam in piano in the class of Prof. Sontraud Speidel at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (University of Music). From both studies she graduated with distinction. Franziska Lee received further artistic impulses from Prof. Peter Lang at the Mozarteum Salzburg and Prof. Françoise Thinat in Paris.

Franziska Lee has won numerous international competitions including the International Competition Treviso, Italy and the International Competition Padova, Italy. In 2013 she was the winner of the Dr. Hermann Büttner Piano Competition at the University of Music Karlsruhe and in 2016 she won the first prize in the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition London. Her artistic personality and her musical commitment were honored with the Music Prize of the Kulturfonds Baden e.V.

Described as a "lyrical jewel" in the press, Franziska Lee has performed in European countries, in South Korea and in the USA, as a soloist, as a chamber musician and as a soloist with orchestra. Franziska Lee has made various radio recordings. Recently, hr2 did broadcast her performance at the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt/Main and SWR2 did send a live recording of her performance at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

Franziska Lee is especially dedicated to the piano sonatas of Franz Schubert. So far she has given "Schubert-Abende“ in Paris, Milan, Lugano, Seoul and Vienna (at Schubert’s birthplace), as well as in Mannheim, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe. Together with Prof. Sontraud Speidel she brought a concert series with all piano works for four hands by Franz Schubert to the stage.

Italian composer and conductor Marcello Abbado wrote of Franziska Lee’s interpretations of Schubert: "She has the ability to make the piano sing with absolute nobility."

In addition to her concert activities, Franziska Lee is intensively involved in the promotion of young musical talent. She teaches piano and piano chamber music at international courses in Germany and Austria. Franziska Lee is also a regular jury member at national and international competitions.