Sumi Jo
(November 22, 1962) is a Grammy award winning South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire. [1] [2].
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SUMI JO TICKETS
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Early life and education
Sumi Jo was born in
Seoul,
Korea. Her mother was an amateur singer and pianist who had been unable to pursue her own professional music studies due to the political situation in Korea during the 1950s. Determined to provide her daughter with opportunities she never had, Jo's mother enrolled her in piano lessons at the age of 4 and later voice lessons at the age of 6. As a child, Jo would often spend up to eight hours a day studying music.
[3] In 1976, Jo entered the
Sun Hwa Arts School from which she graduated in 1980 with diplomas in voice and piano.
[4] She continued her music studies at
Seoul National University from 1981–1983. While studying at SNU, Jo made her professional recital debut, appeared in several concerts with the
Korean Broadcasting System, and made her professional operatic debut as Susanna in
Le nozze di Figaro
with
Seoul Opera.
In 1983 Jo decided to leave SNU in order to study music in Italy at the
Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Among her teachers there were
Carlo Bergonzi, and
Giannella Borelli. While Jo studied in Italy, she was frequently heard in concert in Italian cities and also on national radio broadcasts and telecasts. It was during this time when Jo decided to use 'Sumi' as her stage name in order to make her name more friendly to European language speakers who often found it difficult to pronounce Soo Kyung. She graduated in 1985 with a concentration in keyboard as well as voice. Following graduation, Jo began to study voice with
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and won several international competitions in Seoul, Naples, Enna, Barcelona, and Pretoria. In August 1986, she was unanimously awarded first prize in the Carlo Alberto Cappelli International Competition in Verona, one of the world's most important contests, open only to first-prize winners of other major competitions.
[5]
Career
In 1986, Jo made her European operatic debut as Gilda in
Giuseppe Verdi's
Rigoletto
at the
Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi in
Trieste. This debut performance attracted the attention of
Herbert von Karajan, who proceeded to cast her as Oscar in
Un ballo in maschera
opposite
Plácido Domingo at the
Salzburg Festival in 1987.
[6] In 1988, Jo made her
La Scala debut as Thetis in
Jommelli's
Fetonte
.
[7] That same year she also made her debut with the
Bavarian State Opera and sang Barbarina in
Le nozze di Figaro
at the
Salzburg Festival. In 1989, Jo made her debut with the
Vienna State Opera and returned to the Salzburg Festival to sing Oscar in
Verdi's
Un ballo in maschera
. That same year, she made her debut with the
Metropolitan Opera, once again portraying Gilda in
Rigoletto
. Jo would later reprise this role numerous times with the Met over the next fifteen years.
[8]
In 1990, Jo made her debut with the
Chicago Lyric Opera as the Queen of the Night in
Mozart's
The Magic Flute
.
[9] The following year, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera for another performance as Oscar in
Un ballo in maschera
and made her
Royal Opera at
Covent Garden debut as Olympia in
The Tales of Hoffmann
.
She returned to Covent Garden the next year to sing both Adina in
L'elisir d'amore
and Elvira in
I puritani
.
In 1993, Jo appeared in the title role of
Donizetti's
Lucia di Lammermoor
with the Metropolitan Opera and sang the role of the Queen of the Night at both the Salzburg Festival and Covent Garden.
The following year she made her debut with
Los Angeles Opera as Sophie in
Strauss'
Der Rosenkavalier
.
In 1995 she sang the role of Countess Adèle in
Le comte Ory
at the
Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Over the next decade Jo maintained a busy schedule, singing Lucia in Strasbourg, Barcelona, Berlin, and Paris;
La Sonnambula
in Brussels and Santiago, Chile;
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
with
Minnesota Opera; Olympia in New York; Rosina in New York; the Queen of the Night in Los Angeles; Gilda in Bilbao, Oviedo, Bologna, Trieste, and Detroit among others;
Il Turco in Italia
in Spain;
L'Enfant et les Sortilèges
in Boston and Pittsburgh;
Le Comte Ory
in Rome; and
Dinorah
in New York. She also appeared in performances at the
Théâtre du Châtelet,
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées,
Opéra National de Paris,
Washington Opera, the
Deutsche Oper Berlin,
Opera Australia, and the
Teatro Colón.
In addition, she appeared with numerous symphony orchestras in concert including including the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra [10], the
Cincinnati Pops, the
Orchestra of St. Luke's, the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra [11], the
Wiener Philharmoniker, the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra among others.
Her work led her to sing under such conductors as
Sir Georg Solti,
Zubin Mehta,
Lorin Maazel,
James Levine,
Kent Nagano, and
Richard Bonynge. She also gave recitals throughout Europe, the United States, and Australia.
[12]
In 2007, Jo performed her first Violetta in
La traviata with the
Toulon Opera and in the 2008–2009 season she is scheduled to perform the role of Zerline in
Fra Diavolo
at both the
Opera Comique and
Opéra Royal de Wallonie.
Repertoire
Opera roles
* Adele, Le comte Ory
(Rossini)
* Amina, La sonnambula
(Bellini)
* Blondchen, The Abduction from the Seraglio
(Mozart)
* Dinorah, Dinorah
(Meyerbeer)
* Elvira, I puritani
(Bellini)
* The Voice of the Falcon, Die Frau ohne Schatten
(Richard Strauss)
* Fiorilla, Il turco in Italia
(Rossini)
* Gilda, Rigoletto
(Verdi)
* Giulietta, I Capuleti e i Montecchi
(Bellini)
* Lakmé, Lakmé
(Delibes)
* Le feu, L'enfant et les sortilèges
(Ravel)
* Lucia, Lucia di Lammermoor
(Donizetti)
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* Marie, La fille du régiment
(Donizetti)
* Matilde, Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra
(Rossini)
* Norina, Don Pasquale
(Donizetti)
* Olympia, The Tales of Hoffmann
(Offenbach)
* Oscar, Un ballo in maschera
(Verdi) -- trouser role
* The Queen of the Night, The Magic Flute
(Mozart)
* Rosina, Il barbiere di Siviglia
(Rossini)
* Sophie, Der Rosenkavalier
(Richard Strauss)
* Susanna, The Marriage of Figaro
(Mozart)
* Violetta, La traviata
(Verdi)
* Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos
(Richard Strauss)
* Zerline, Fra Diavolo (opera)
(Daniel-François-Esprit Auber)
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Concert work
- Carmina Burana
(Carl Orff)
Recordings
Sumi Jo currently has 50 recordings to her credit, including ten solo albums for Erato, French division of Warner Classic. These recordings include complete operas, oratorio, operetta, and orchestral works. Among them include her
Grammy Award winning
Die Frau ohne Schatten
with
Sir Georg Solti for the London/Decca label and
Un ballo in maschera
for Deutsche Grammophon under Herbert von Karajan.
She also provided a vocalise for the
soundtrack of
The Ninth Gate
, composed by
Wojciech Kilar. The main theme of this film is based on a piece by
Camille Saint-Saëns.
Awards and honors
- 2002- Sumi Jo sang at the World Cup in Seoul, Korea. [13]
- 2003- Sumi Jo was elected as an "Artist for Peace" of UNESCO.
- 2008- Sumi Jo received the international Puccini Award
- 2008- Sumi Jo sang at the International Olympic Games in Beijing. [14]
Family
----
Sumi Jo is the second cousin of Korean actor
Yoo Gun (also spelt
Yoo Geon). She is Yoo Gun's grandfather's brother's daughter.
[15]
Personal life
Sumi Jo is an advocate for animals and one of only five Asian celebrities to make People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacific's (PETA) first-ever Best-Dressed 2008 list. .
References
- Sumi Jo
- Raphaelle Occhietti & William Sanger, Sumi Jo chante le bel canto (''Le Polyscope'', 12 octobre 2008)
- Sumi Jo: Devoted to Music
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- Biography for Sumi Jo - WindowsMedia.com Media Guide
- LA Phil Presents | About the Performer - Sumi Jo
- CULTURE- Korean
- Metropolitan Opera Association
- Lyric Opera of Chicago: www.lyricopera.org
- LSM Newswire: [Vancouver Sumi Jo with the VSO!]
- Vancouver Symphony Orchestra - The Concerts - Artist Bios
- www.hollywoodbowl.com
- ESPNsoccernet.com World Cup 2002: Hiddink: Koreans closing the gap
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