Reviews

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Madama Butterfly – Grange Park Opera 2025

 

No one today would expect a butterfly of 15, the age clearly specified in the text – many more mature sopranos have sung the role, and the vocal demands of the part are tremendous. Hye-Youn Lee meet them ardently, totally, perhaps missing the innocence of the earlier scenes, but flowering with passion in her loved duet with Pinkerton at the end of act one, and then with self-deluding hope in her aria Un bel dì, trusting in Pinkerton’s return. This is an international level portrayal of the role.
The Telegraph – Nicholas Kenyon (Chief Opera Critic) – 8th June 2025

 

Hye-Youn Lee’s standout performance saves this pedestrian production….The rigours of the role of Madama Butterfly are legendary. However, South Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee gives a truly outstanding performance, which saves the weaker parts of this production…..Her rendition of “Un bel dì, vedremo” is flawless; expressive, empassioned and tonally exquisite. She brings huge emotional weight to the role, deftly moving between lightness in hope and joy, to dark despair…..Hopefully, this production will warm up. It is worth seeing for Hye-Youn Lee’s performance alone, which will live long in my memory.
Broadwayworld.com – Aliya Al-Hassan –- 9th June 2025

 

With a simple – if tragic – plot, and a ravishing musical score, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly must stir its audience to succeed. Grange Park Opera’s new production achieves this with aplomb, thanks to a superb performance by South Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee in the title role. Sung in Italian Three. 
Alice Fowler – The Guildford Dragon 9th June 2025

 

La Traviata – Scottish Opera (Spring 2024)

 

And Violetta is this revival’s greatest asset. Hye-Youn Lee embodies every aspect of the character’s journey with believable humanity. She’s perhaps at her finest during the coloratura fireworks of Act 1, a passage that suits her light soprano, but she also brings touching warmth to the heartbreak of Act 2, and she darkens her voice with eerie effectiveness as she lies on her deathbed in Act 3. Nothing we’ve seen in her previous roles with the company hinted at such versatility and sheer dramatic effectiveness. She has the makings of a star.
The Times – Simon Thompson, 10th May 2024

 

Hye-Youn Lee, a singer who completely inhabits a role, was sensational as Violetta, her lovely burnished lower register opening out into a bright, accurate and considerable coloratura, pacing herself well for this demanding work. Her first act sequence including “Ah, fors’è lui” was a triumph.
Bachtrack – David Smythe, 09 May 2024

 

Ever since her superb Micaela in the otherwise dramatically compromised Scottish Opera Carmen of exactly a year ago, I’ve been waiting for Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee’s eponymous Violetta.  It was worth every minute of the wait. The dramatic transformation from shallow party girl who has never known true love, via conflicted vacillation between two possible futures, to impassioned devoted mistress of the besotted (but impecunious) Alfredo was matched by a vocal transformation, her timbre infused with increasing warmth. The battle of wills (which she ultimately loses) with Alfredo’s father Giorgio, demanding she sacrifice her happiness for that of Alfredo’s sister, gave the rapt audience fiery vocal power contrasted with heart-rending dejection, the vocal characterisation skilfully matched by body language.  Act III, deathbed from start to finish, managed to deliver the demanding pathos of the role vocally and dramatically without shattering the illusion of a broken body – not always achieved in my experience. This role, in my opinion Verdi’s best for the tessitura, has been waiting for Hye-Youn; she gave it everything.  Superb.
Edinburgh Music Review – Donald Hurley – 12th May 2024

 

Daphne /Scottish Opera

 

Accordingly, Hye-Youn Lee dazzles again, last seen by the QR, in SO’s splendid 2022 ‘Don Giovanni’. Retaining the same power, and clarity, she displays complete comfort in the star role, and a joy in the soaring demands of the role. ‘Demands’ is correct, the role keeping the chosen soprano in action for a punishing portion of the 100 minute run-time – but Hye-Youn Lee is more than up to the challenge. Her opening scenes with tenor Shenzi Ren , are a playful delight, his lyric tenor proving a brisk, and bright match. …Her [Hye-Youn Lee’s] final, wordless aria sailing out into the ancient stones, is the surpassingly pretty stuff from which memories are made…… The finale, in which Daphne achieves her dream is also handled particularly well, eschewing costumed transformation for Hye-Youn Lee, in favour of an evocative walk amidst a sea of roses. Her final, wordless aria sailing out into the ancient stones, is the surpassingly pretty stuff from which memories are made”. 

The QR.co.uk

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South Korean soprano Lee is a beautifully toned and powered Daphne

The Reviews Hub –

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Hye-Youn Lee was utterly magnificent as Daphne, a fervent blend of soulfulness and virtuosic precision.

The Scotsman

 

Scottish Opera’s recent casting skill was very much in evidence with company favourites South Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee superb in the title role.

The Guardian 

 

Daphne herself (who is sung splendidly by the South Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee) is represented as the young anti-nazi martyr, Sophie Scholl…Lee’s Daphne is a tour de force, rendering the role with a compelling emotional energy, especially in her final mournful aria.

Telegraph 

 

Hye-Youn Lee has an ideal voice for Daphne, a flexible gorgeous soprano that captures both Daphne’s innocence and desperate naivety.

The Times

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Micaëla / Scottish Opera

 

Hye-Youn Lee’s rounded and heartfelt Micaëla is all the more brave in her early confrontation with José’s regiment – and on José’s entitlement, as he attempts to shift the blame for his actions on to his victim.

The Stage

 

Singing Jose’s jilted sweetheart Micaela can sometimes seem the thankless role in Carmen – although Hye-Youn Lee gives one of the best vocal performances in this cast…

The Herald 

 

Giving a fine performance as the maligned Micaëla, Hye-Youn Lee thrilled in her Act 3 aria as she tried to persuade the wayward, love-struck José to return home. Outstanding moments spring out of the blue, such as Hye-Youn Lee’s heartstopping Act 3 aria as Micaëla.

The Scotsman

 

When José’s childhood sweetheart Micaëla (played by the outstanding South Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee) arrives in Seville, for example, she is subjected to a display of predictably toxic masculinity by her erstwhile lover’s army comrades……However on opening night, it was Lee’s stunning emotive rendering of Micaëla’s aria that had the audience in raptures.

The Telegraph

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Mimì: La bohème /St. Gallen

 

Sie lieh ihrer Partie einen Sopran aufblühender Wärme und körperhafter Mittellage-Eigenschaften, die sich mit einer differenzierten Phrasierung und einem satten Legato zu einem überzeugenden Porträt verbanden."

Opern Glas

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Mimi:La Boheme/Scottish Opera​
“Hye-Youn Lee, her lovely rich timbre cutting across the orchestra, was a terrific Mimì, painfully fragile but with a noble inner strength. Act 3 at the Barrière d’Enfer can sometimes flag, but Lee’s performance as she and Marcello, and then Rodolfo, get tothe home truths was as enthralling as it was heartbreaking.”
Bachtrack

"Hye-Youn Lee has already proven her Puccinian credentials as an excellent Madam Butterfly, and she showed every facet of Mimì very successfully, glorious in the third act farewell, and very moving in her death scene."
Classical Source

“Hye-Youn Lee’s singing, as Mimi, is memorable.”
Edinburgh Guide

“Hye-Youn Lee gives a dignified, touching performance as Mimì, noble and poised with a quality of tone that carries over Puccini’s orchestration, while still giving the sense of her character’s fragility.”
The Guardian

"The standout voice was that of Hye-Youn Lee, thanks to her even production, her ample tone, her Italian diction, her sense of style."
Opera

“From the moment that Hye-Youn-Lee sings Sì, mi Chicano Mimì, we are charmed, in Scottish Opera’s new production of La bohème. She plays the part delightfully, sweet, not saccharine, her voice slipping through the notes with ease, creating a genuine conversation with her new boyfriend.”
The Opera Critic


“Lee’s voice switches from fcrailty to gloriously coloured strength.”
The Stage

Violetta: La traviata / Opera North

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"Is a delight - how refreshing to see a Violetta who's actually youthful. Her voice was in superb form: fearlessly confident in Verdi's crueler high writing and able to reduce her tone to a whisper when required. She looks diminished as her health deteriorates, a shrunken, dedicated presence in the final scene."
The Arts Desk
 
"Hye-Youn Lee is vitally compelling, notably when exercising her considerable coloratura skills. (Her) delivery of Violetta's mixed reactions at the end of Act 1, from 'Ah, fors'è lui che l'anima' through to 'Sempre libera' left me gasping, Lee excels as she moves through the gamut of emotions, at her pathetic best as she hands the portrait locket to Alfredo and as she stands, arms outstretched on the bed, for her illusory surge of revived power."
Bachtrack
 
“As Violetta, Hye-Youn Lee is simply sensational, with a sweet tone and agile upper register.”
The Guardian
 
“Lee is outstanding, her tone sweet or steely as required, her approach to the part's technical demands fearless…”
WhatsOnStage
 
Donna Anna: Don Giovanni / Bergen National Opera

“Hye-Youn Lee’s incisive soprano is well suited to conveying Donna Anna’s latent hysteria.”
Morgenbladet
 
“Both the donne were in formidable control of their coloratura, Hye-Youn Lee bringing plenty of sheen and vibrancy to Donna Anna…”
Opera
 
Donna Anna: Don Giovanni / NI Opera

“Lee’s strong soprano is a good fit for the role.”
Bachtrack
 
“It was Hye-Youn Lee who made the strongest case for Donna Anna's suffering. It's a technically demanding role, but Lee (has the capability and the lyricism required for expression of these deep emotions.”
Opera Journal
 
Cio-Cio-San: Madama Butterfly / Lyric Opera, Dublin

“From her first appearance to the final act, Lee’s performance is stunning. Her understanding of the character of Butterfly is apparent through her sensitive vocal approach, which never sacrifices emotion for the sake of volume or technique.”
GoldenPlec
 
“Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee performance in the title role was simply outstanding, both from a vocal and from an acting point of view, displaying great psychological finesse and a beautiful voice. She was an utterly credible Madama Butterfly and you could sense her previous experience in the role. She also smartly escaped the risk, almost intrinsic to the role, of appearing too histrionic.”
The Side Balcony
 
Cio-Cio-San: Madama Butterfly / Scottish Opera

“The evening’s focus was of course on Hye-Youn Leewho gave a great performance, thrillingly pulling out the stops for the big numbers, and completely devastating in the farewell to her son.”
Bachtrack
 
“Asian Butterflys not only look more authentic than their western counterparts; they also tend to play the part more assertively, and this was palpably the case with Lee, who is Korean. Nothing – neither the Bonze’s fury, nor Pinkerton’s hush money – was ever going to compromise this Butterfly’s integrity, even if it involved the ultimate sacrifice. Lee is a confident performer, with a voice of ample power and stamina…”
Financial Times
 
“A strong cast is led by the magnetic Cio-Cio San. South Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee inhabits the role with absolute conviction and ideal nuance: she is wide-eyed and girlish-voiced in act one, ardent and womanly in act two, heartbreakingly dignified in act three.”
The Guardian
 
“Making her debut with Scottish Opera, Lee’s strong performance throughout was so perfect that one member o the audience at the end said she left feeling “reeling, heartbroken and almost speechless.” It could be argued that Lee’s performance of Butterfly is the best performance Glasgow’s theatre scene has seen in years.”
The Journal
 
“The Korean soprano is a confident performer, with a voice well matched – in power and stamina – to Puccini’s demands.”
Opera
 
“From her first appearance, led on by her female relatives in bustles, Hye-Youn Lee’s grace and elegance as Cio-Cio San charms the audience…her voice fills the space with love, with joy, with despair. Those well-known arias sound fresh and new.”
The Opera Critic
 
“Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee’s Butterfly is a joy to watch and listen to, growing in character from a shy infatuated girl to mature woman. Her optimistic conviction shines through in Un bel di and her anguished farewell to the boy is heartbreaking. Her voice has silk, silver and steel as needed.”
The Public Reviews
 
“Butterfly’s desperate naivety is both charming and exasperating in the hands of South Korean soprano Hye-Youn Lee, whose performance is riven with tragic ecstasy.”
The Scotsman
 
“It’s the cast that make this worth catching, and they are led by an excellent Butterfly in Hye-Youn Lee, making her Scottish Opera debut.  She sings the part beautifully and with seeming ease in her traversal of the tessitura, cresting the high notes and exuding confidence in the music.  She also acts the part very well indeed, all wide-eyed innocence and naivety in the first act, but maturing to become a tragic heroine by the second.  Her dismissal of Sharpless in the second act seems to take on a real tragic grandeur, dignifying and elevating what can sometimes pass for a minor moment, and she showed absolutely no sign of tiring by the time of the suicide.  Hers was a most moving portrayal of this extremely moving role, and isn’t one I’ll forget in a long time.”
Seen and Heard International
 
“South Korean Soprano Hye-Youn Lee as Cio-Cio San is outstanding in her role. Her voice just seems to float across the stage. There is nowhere for Butterfly to rest in this opera and the sheer amount of time that she is on stage must make this a very physically demanding role to play too. How someone so fragile looking has such stamina and vocal presence on stage is a mystery.”
Southside Advertiser
 
“The plaudits go to Lee’s starkly convincing Cio-Cio San, a Butterfly whose child-like innocence and emotive singing in Act I give way to a more adult sorrow — and a lovely Un Bel Dì — as she sits, deserted, waiting for Pinkerton’s return on Yannis Thavoris’s fine Japanese house set, the paper walls an apt metaphor for the fragility of her American dream world.”
The Times
 
Cio-Cio-San: Madama Butterfly / Teatro nacional de São Carlos

“The production was lucky to have Hye-Youn Lee, a soprano of great vocal resource who had some brilliant moments, in the leading role.”
Publico unite