Yoonseok Lee interview

01:36 - Yoonseok was a student of Sigmund Groven, who was on the podcast in episode 127

01:51 - Yoonseok is from Incheon in South Korea, and spent time in Norway studying with Sigmund

02:18 - Had lessons on piano before taking up harmonica around the age of 9 after attending an event at a local community centre

02:36 - Liked the portability and the variety of tone colours of the harmonica

02:53 - The harmonica is very popular in South Korea, but mainly as a hobby, with not many professional players due to a lack of university courses

03:40 - Yoonseok has a good following in his country due to the popularity of the instrument, with Koreans associating the instrument with something nostalgic

04:25 - The origin of the harmonica in Korea is associated with the saenghwang free reed instrument

05:16 - First harmonica Yoonseok played was the tremolo, which is the most popular type of harmonica in South Korea

05:53 - Tremolo is used to play folk music much of the time in South Korea

06:22 - Yoonseok is mainly a chromatic player now, but still plays the tremolo when teaching beginners as the tremolo is popular in South Korea due to it’s lower price

07:28 - Tremolo has some similarities to the chromatic, in that it is good for playing melodies

07:45 - Yoonseok speaks very good English

08:08 - First discovered the chromatic harmonica when attending the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival, which happens every two years

08:26 - Attended his first Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival in Hong Kong in 2004, where saw Sigmund Groven performing

08:38 - Didn’t know there were other types of harmonica besides the tremolo until went to that festival on 2004

08:56 - Was starstruck by Sigmund and wrote fan emails to him when he went back to Norway but Sigmund didn’t receive them as he used the wrong email address

09:53 - When Sigmund returned to South Korea in 2012 Yoonseok was able to take some lessons with him

10:35 - Sigmund returned to South Korea several times where Yoonseok took some lessons with him and performed with him on stage

10:58 - Went to study with Sugmund in Norway in 2018

11:19 - Studied composition and music theory at Seoul National University, graduating with top honours in 2017

11:43 - There were no teachers to study the chromatic harmonica in South Korea so initially self-taught

12:16 - Musicology course at Seoul National University didn’t involve harmonica playing, although still played as a freelance harmonica player at that time

12:47 - Studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo for two years, the first harmonica player to study there, with Sigmund as his main professor

13:21 - The long application process to be accepted at the Norwegian Academy of Music

14:35 - The chromatic was the sole instrument Yoonseok played at the academy in Norway

14:43 - Had weekly lessons with Sigmund who had Yoonseok work hard to improve his playing

16:30 - Yoonseok focused on the basics to really improve his playing when studying with Sigmund

17:23 - Sigmund emphasised the importance of making a good legato to Yoonseok

17:51 - The course in Norway lasted two years in the cold weather!

18:07 - Was working as a freelance musicians in South Korea before studying in Norway, so travelled back from Norway to continue that work while studying there

19:04 - Is 33 years old and completed studies in Norway in 2020, just as the Covid pandemic struck

19:38 - Still travels back to Norway every year since 2017 for a harmonica summer camp which he teaches at alongside Sigmund, and performed in Oxford, UK, earlier in 2025

20:41 - Based mainly back in South Korea since 2020, also playing in Japan sometimes

21:16 - Arranges much of the music he records on the chromatic as not too much music written for the instrument

22:28 - How Yoonseok arranges music for the chromatic harmonica includes using the piano and adapting piano scores to work with the chromatic

23:32 - Is the soloist when performing with orchestras and ensembles

24:14 - First album released in 2022: The Beginning, contains 24 songs in a mixture of genres

25:37 - Composed three of the songs on The Beginning album

26:37 - Plays some Tommy Reilly pieces, such as Serenade

27:58 - Second album, Harmonica Recitals, is well known classical pieces from various composers

29:27 - Some of the pieces selected which work well with the chromatic harmonica

30:31 - Chooses repertoire carefully depending on the concert and the audience and music enjoys himself

32:32 - Performs regularly with orchestras and uses amplification to make the chromatic heard, and to use a little reverb

33:37 - Uses mic on a stand and leaves the choice of the mic to the sound engineer

34:04 - Breathe naturally to project the sound of the chromatic, don’t squeeze the breath to force the sound

35:00 - Played with orchestras around the world and how audiences reactions can differ between countries

36:27 - YouTube channel has some live performances and music videos recorded by Yoonseok

37:09 - Self-promotion and marketing is critical in the modern era, with Yoonseok having to do much of it himself

39:13 - Toured Japan in June 2025 to launch the Harmonica Recitals album there

39:41 - Was featured on KBS radio in South Korea to profile the chromatic harmonica

41:05 - The balance of playing the chromatic repertoire and introducing new music for the instrument

42:18 - Performs music often with a harp, which Tommy Reilly also recorded with Skaila Kanga

43:56 - Yoonseok is working with some contemporary composers in South Korea who have written pieces for the chromatic

45:18 - Will be the first ever South Korean judge at the World Harmonica Festival in Trossingen this year, and is performing there with Sigmund’s pianist

46:25 - Ten minute question

47:36 - Playing slow on the chromatic can be more challenging than playing fast

50:09 - Recently named a Hohner Global artist

50:32 - Plays the Hohner Silver Concerto and the Polle chromatic (which is no longer being made)

51:40 - Does some basic maintenance himself on the Polle chromatics but for anything more involved sends to Norway

52:07 - Only plays other types of harmonicas once a year when demonstrating them at workshops for children

52:59 - Does play the chromatic in a harmonica ensemble

54:16 - Embouchre is tongue blocking

54:31 - Mics and amplification just leaves to the sound engineer with no idea himself!

54:49 - Likes a little reverb

55:16 - Future plans include maybe an album with classical guitar, pipe organ or string quartet

56:37 - Gives private lessons and published a method book and score book for chromatic harmonica, but only available in Korean language at the moment