Winner of the 1981 Viola Open Section at the Singapore National Music Competition, Lim Soon Lee graduated from the prestigious Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, New York, with a Bachelor of Music (Distinction) on a Public Service Commission/Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) Scholarship. He studied the viola under world-renowned violists Atar Arad and Francis Tursi, and completed a two-year conducting course with Professor David Effron and Professor Donald Hunsberger.
Soon Lee served as Principal Violist at Germany's Heidelberg Music Festival in 1984 and 1986, and was awarded a scholarship to study the viola under Kim Kashkashian at the Lausanne Academy of Music in Switzerland for his summer programme in 1986.
Formerly the Sub-Principal Violist for the SSO from 1989 to 1997, Soon Lee is also an established violin and viola teacher, and sits on the National Arts Council (NAC) Arts Resource Panel for Music.
Soon Lee is also the Music Director of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Music Director/Resident Conductor of the National University of Singapore Symphony Orchestra.