after being in music schools from age of 3 to 25, korean cellist/improviser/composer okkyung lee found her artistic freedom in new york's lower east side where she moved in 2000.

since then, she has performed and recorded with numerous artists such as laurie anderson, derek bailey, steve beresford, kjell bjørgeengen, carla bozulich, nels cline, chris corsano, sylvie courvoisier, mark dresser, fred frith, shelley hirsch, john hollenbeck, susie ibarra, lindha kallerdahl, eyvind kang, miya masaoka, raz mesinai, min xiao-fen, thurston moore, lawrence D. "butch" morris, larry ochs, jim o'rourke, beth orton, zeena parkins, marc ribot, marina rosenfeld, saadet türköz and john zorn to name a few.

in addition to frequent solo performances and leading her own ensembles, she frequently collaborates with the following ensembles: Still Life with Commentator with pianist/composer vijay iyer, poet/hip hop artist mike ladd; duo with tunrtablist/video artist christian marclay: billy martin's IOOI with ikue mori and dj olive, and artist guy richards smit's rock band Maxi Geil! and Playcolt.

okkyung has released the following albums under her name: her debut album, Nihm on Tzadik; a duo recording with christian marclay, Rubbings on My Cat is an Alien label's split LP series; 30-minute companion cd of her own compositions in collaboration with artist colin stinson for his art book Dust to Dust, and a solo cello album I saw the Ghost of an Unknown Soul and it Said... to be released on thurston moore's Ecstatic Peace labe in 2008.

her performances have been featured in the follwing US and international festivals: whitney biennial 2006 "Day for Night" (new york, ny), BAM Next Wave Festival (brooklyn, ny) , San Francisco Jazz Festival (san francisco, ca), Time Based Arts Festival (portland, or), Kill Your Timid Notion Festival (scotland), International Festival Musique Actuelle Victoriaville (canada), Sons d’Hiver Festival (france), Off New York! Concert Series (germany), Kontra.com Festival (austria), Moers Festival (germany), Taktlos Festival (switzerland), La Biennale di Venezia (italy).

in 2007, she presented two new compositions; one commissioned by New York States Council on the Arts for 9 piece ensemble at roulette in new york, and the other commissioned by the kitchen in new york written for 4 musicians along with live visuals by film maker andrew lampert.

okkyung holds dual bachelor's degrees in Film Scoring/Contemporary Writing & Production from Berklee College of Music, and master's degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory of Music.