Hsiaopei Lee, Taiwanese violist, joined the string faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi in the fall of 2005. She has previously taught viola and chamber music at the Starling String Project, University of Cincinnati. Additionally she coached many talented violists as the long-time teaching assistant to the viola studio at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. 

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As a recitalist, Lee has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Highlights of recent performances include solo appearances with the Meridian Symphony Orchestra and the USM Symphony Orchestra, a solo performance at a conference of the Southern Chapter of the College Music Society, and a series of recitals featuring contemporary viola music in several states. As an orchestral musician, Lee has performed under the batons of David Zinman, James Conlon, Robert Spano, Leonard Slatkin, James DePriest, David Robertson, and at such festivals as the Victoria Bach Festival, Texas Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival, where she received Talented Students in the Arts Initiative (TSAI) Orchestral String Mentor-Fellowship. She is currently the principal violist of the Meridian Symphony Orchestra. A passionate chamber musician, Lee has been a chamber music collaborator in such cities as New York, Paris, and Taipei. She regularly performs with the Mississippi Chamber Circle and the Impromptu Piano Quartet. Hsiaopei is an advocate of new music, her first CD, Viola Music Written by American Female Composers, was released by Centaur Records in 2014.

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A frequent guest artist on the university campuses both in the United States and abroad, Dr. Lee has given master classes and performances at universities including Florida State University, Ohio State University, and the Arizona State University, to name a few. Dr. Lee’s many students have placed in competitions, such as the Young Artists Concerto Competition (Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra), have earned distinction in research (Dalton Research Competition, American Viola Society), and have been appointed to orchestral and teaching positions both in the United States and in their home countries.

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At Southern Miss, Dr. Lee is the recipient of several awards, including the Committee on Services and Resources for Women Competition, the Scholarly & Creative Research Awards from the College of Arts & Letters, and The Aubrey Keith Lucas and Ella Ginn Lucas Endowment for Faculty Excellence. Her research project has received support from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. In 2011, 2017, and 2023, the Mississippi Arts Commission selected Hsiaopei as one of the Artist Fellowship recipients, a highly competitive grant that is open to artists of many different artistic disciplines to support professional development or the creation of new work.

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Dr. Lee holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Music from the National Taiwan Normal University, a Master of Arts degree in Music Education from Columbia University and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Viola Performance from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Her principal teachers include Masao Kawasaki, Catharine Carroll Lees, Lawrence Fader, and Ting-Hui Chen.