Katina Mitchell & Yewon Lee Music Lecture | Becoming Alice: The Early Life and Education of Alice Barnett | Athenaeum Music & Arts Library | La Jolla | Library Classical Concert

Born in 1886 in Illinois, Alice Barnett pursued advanced musical training in both Chicago and Berlin. Her diaries, correspondence, and surviving manuscripts from this formative period reveal a spirited and determined young musician whose talent was evident from an early stage. This lecture explores Barnett’s educational experiences, her travels throughout Europe, and the broader musical and cultural contexts that shaped her development. Selected performances of her early compositions—many unpublished and indicative of her evolving voice as a composer—offer insight into the foundations of her later, more mature work.

About Dr. Katina Mitchell:
Dr. Katina Mitchell is a native of San Diego. She has sung with the San Diego Symphony; lautten compagney BERLIN; MicroFest, Los Angeles; Monday Evening Concerts, Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, Volti, San Francisco; Bach Collegium San Diego, The Da Camera Society, Los Angeles; and more. A favorite engagement was performing with Ensemble Vocatrix in fully staged productions of Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum in Los Angeles and Berkeley. Recently Mitchell has sung as both soloist and chorister with San Diego Master Chorale, Sacra/Profana, and the Schola Cantorum of St. James-by-the-Sea. Her work has been featured at the Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles and the Medieval History Center in Azincourt, France, and in media outlets including the BBC, NPR’s Life in Berlin, and the Los Angeles Times.



In 2023, Mitchell began presenting her extensive original research on composer Alice Barnett, giving lectures with the San Diego History Center; the Western History Association, Los Angeles; National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), San Diego chapter, at San Diego State University; Palomar College; and Society for American Music, Tacoma, Washington. Katina holds degrees in music from Rice University and the University of Southern California (USC). She is a member of the music faculty at Palomar College, teaches voice at Grossmont College, and maintains a private studio.

About Dr. Yewon Lee:
Dr. Yewon Lee is a frequently sought-after conductor and collaborative pianist on the operatic and concert stage. Prior to relocating to San Diego, Lee was Assistant Music Director of Opera at Baldwin Wallace University and Adjunct Professor at Kent State University. In the operatic world, she coached at Baldwin Wallace Opera Theater, National Opera Center, Aspen Opera Theater Center, and International Vocal Arts Institute in Israel, France, Italy, and Japan.



Born in Seoul, South Korea, Lee received a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Seoul National University, completed her Master of Music in vocal accompanying at Manhattan School of Music, and earned an artist diploma in collaborative piano from The Juilliard School. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in choral music at USC.



Currently, she is a music director of the San Diego Festival Chorus and the San Dieguito United Methodist Church. She also serves as the Far South Representative for the California Choral Directors Association.