Sumi Lee is a San Francisco–based pianist, presenter, organizer, and educator dedicated to advancing Argentine tango as a vibrant contemporary art form. Classically trained from an early age, she earned a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and later specialized as a tango pianist at the prestigious Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce in Buenos Aires — one of the world’s foremost training programs for tango musicians. During her time in Argentina, she performed with the Balcarce Orchestra and studied under renowned tango maestros including Víctor Lavallén, José Colángelo, and Daniel Binelli, all Latin Grammy–recognized artists.
Since returning to the Bay Area, she has become an active force in the regional tango community through performance, collaboration, and education with performances across the world, founding both the Golden Gate International Artists and the SF Tango Academy to both expand opportunity for artists and deepen tango’s roots in the Bay Area.
