Sumi Jo

Music Home >> Music Genres >> Undetermined Music



< < < < < > > > > > More Info on Sumi Jo Similar Undetermined Music Search Artistopia

Biography

Sumi Jo (born ) is a Grammy Award winning South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire. Raphaelle Occhietti & William Sanger, ( Le Polyscope , 12 octobre 2008)

Early life and education

Jo was born Jo Su-gyeong in Seoul , South 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. In 1976, Jo entered the Sun Hwa Arts School from which she graduated in 1980 with diplomas in voice and piano. 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 The Marriage of 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 Su-gyeong. 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.

Career

In 1986, Jo made her European operatic debut as Gilda in 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 1989. Due to the death of Karajan during the rehearsals of this planned performance, Jo actually never had the opportunity to sing on stage under the baton of Karajan ( Georg Solti conducted the performance) though early that year she had sung in the studio recording of the work for Deutsche Grammophon In 1988, Jo made her La Scala debut as Thetis in Niccolò Jommelli|Jommelli 's Fetonte . That same year she also made her debut with the Bavarian State Opera and sang Barbarina in The Marriage of 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.

In 1990, Jo made her debut with the Chicago Lyric Opera as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute . The following year, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera for another performance as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and made her Royal Opera, London|Royal Opera at Royal Opera House|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; The Barber of Seville|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 the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra , at LSM Newswire (4 January 2008) the Cincinnati Pops , the Orchestra of St. Luke's , the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra , the Vienna Philharmonic , 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, Canada, and Australia.

In 2007, Jo performed her first Violetta in La traviata with the Toulon Opera and in the 2008/2009 season she was scheduled to perform the role of Zerline in Fra Diavolo (opera)|Fra Diavolo at both the Opera Comique and Opéra Royal de Wallonie .

In 2011 Sumi Jo provided the voice of 'Veda Pierce' in the HBO miniseries 'Mildred Pierce'.

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, orchestral works and Broadway standards. Notable recordings include 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 provided a vocalise for the soundtrack of the 1999 film The Ninth Gate , composed by Wojciech Kilar . The main theme of this film is based on a piece by Camille Saint-Saëns .

Sumi Jo recorded a cover version of the title song of Andrew Lloyd Webber 's 2010 musical Love Never Dies (musical)|Love Never Dies .

Several of Sumi Jo's recordings were used as the character Veda's singing voice in the 2011 HBO Mildred Pierce (TV miniseries)|miniseries version of Mildred Pierce . She also recorded new tracks specifically for the film, including the " Bridal Chorus " from Wagner 's Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin and the popular standard " I'm Always Chasing Rainbows ."

Her recording of R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos|Ariadne Auf Naxos , Etc. Virgin Classics (1997) is the first recording of 1912 original version of R. Strauss. Sumi hit the F#6 of Zerbinetta

Sumi Jo The Erato Recitals (10 CDs) Erato (January 31, 2012)

Libera Decca (2011)

Ich Liebe Dich Decca (August 17, 2010)

Missing You Decca (August 10, 2010)

The Sumi Jo Collection Warner Bros UK (January 18, 2010)

Best Of Sumi Jo Decca (February 4, 2009)

Baroque Journey Erato (November 13, 2007)

The Christmas Album Erato (September 18, 2001)

Prayers Erato (March 20, 2001)

Only Love Erato (April 11, 2000)

A Tribute to Johann Strauss ~ Echoes from Vienna Erato (November 9, 1999)

Les Bijoux / French Arias Erato (August 3, 1999)

La Promessa: Italian Songs Erato (September 15, 1998)

Art of Sumi Jo Decca (August 11, 1998)

Adam - Le Toréador Decca (March 17, 1998)

Bel Canto Erato (September 16, 1997)

Sumi Jo Sings Mozart (October 1, 1996)

Auber - Le Domino Noir (2 CDs) Decca (April 9, 1996)

Virtuoso Arias Erato (February 7, 1995)

Carnaval& #33; French Coloratura Arias Decca (November 15, 1994)

Kenny G 'Rhythm & Romance'

Featuring with Sumi Jo - Mirame Bailar

MBC epic drama "Ju-mong" O.S.T.(2006)

Sumi Jo - A Memory of Love

The #1 Soprano Album (2 CDs)Decca (April 9, 2002)

Sumi Jo - Die Zauberflöte / Act 2 - "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen"

KBS drama "The Lost Empire" O.S.T. (2CDs) Doremi, Korea (2001.12.03)

Sumi Jo - If I Leave

DIVA: 30 Great Prima Donnas (2 CDs) Teldec (2001)

Sumi Jo - Faust, Act II: L'air Des Bijoux

Jewel Song: 20 Great Soprano Arias (2 CDs) Decca (2000)

Sumi Jo - Die Zauberflöte / Act 2 - "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen"

MBC drama "Hu-jun" O.S.T.(1999)

Sumi Jo - Elegy of Separation (Bulinbeolgok)

R. Strauss: Ariadne Auf Naxos, Etc. Virgin Classics (1997)

Sumi Jo - Zerbinetta

Sumi Jo the 25th Debut Anniversary Memorial Album (10 CDs) Erato (2011) (It is same as The Erato Recitals 10 CDs)

the 21st Debut Anniversary Memorial Album

Sumi Jo 101: Favorite Crossover and Classics (6CDs) Warner Music (2007)

the 20th Anniversary Special Edition

With Love: Best 20 Songs of Sumi Jo (2 CDs) Warner Music Korea (2006)

DVD "Sumi Jo in Paris - For my Father" (2006)

My Story (2 CDs) Erato/Warner Music Korea (2002)

This album included a vocal version of "Love is just a Dream," whose non-vocal verson was in MBC drama "Hotelier" O.S.T. (2001).

Awards and honors

2008 – Sumi Jo received the international Puccini Award

2008 – Sumi Jo sang at the International Olympic Games in Beijing

2006 Winner of the Proud Korean Award for Culture and Art

2005 7th Winner of KwanAk Award by Alumni Association of Seoul National University

2003 – Sumi Jo was elected as an "Artist for Peace" of UNESCO

2002 – Sumi Jo sang at the World Cup in Seoul, Korea

2002 18th Woman of the Year by Korea Women Committee

1997 Best Vocal Album by French Cultural Critics

1997 Winner of 5th KBS Overseas Korean Award

1996 Winner of 1st Korean-Chinese Youth Academic Award

1996 The Best Selling Album of the Year award by British Classic

1995 Decorated with the Order of Culture Merit, South Korea

1995 Grand prize winner of Women Dong-a by Dong-a Daily News, Seoul, South Korea

1994 Winner of Best Soprano, Chile

1994 Winner of Kim SuGeun Award for Performing Art, Seoul, South Korea

1993 Winner of La Siola d'Oro, Forli, Italy

1993 Winner of Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording (conducted by sir. Solti, Deca label)

1992 Winner of Hong Nanpa Memorial Award

August 1986 First prize in the Carlo Alberto Cappelli International Competition at Verona

October 1986 Graduated with honors from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory

1986 Winner of Pretoria International Music Competitions, South Africa

1986 Winner of 'Francisco Viñas' International Singing Competition,Barcelona, Spain

1985 Winner of Viotti International Music Competition (Concorso Internazionale di Musica Viotti), Italy

1985 Winner of Sicily Enna International Musical Competition, Italy

1985 Winner of Napoli Zonta International Competition, Italy

1985 Winner of Viotti International Music Competition, Trieste, Italy (Concorso Internazionale di Musica Viotti)

Personal life

Sumi Jo is the first cousin once removed of Korean actor Yoo Gun (also spelled Yoo Geon). Yoo Gun is the son of one of Sumi's first cousins.

Sumi Jo is an advocate for animal rights 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.

Her father had died just before she performed Ave Maria at Chatelet, Paris. When she learned that her father died, she wanted to pack up and attend her father's funeral. Her mother reminded her of the promise with her audiences, and said that it was best for her father that she performed and dedicated it to her father.Her performance was dedicated to her father and released as a DVD titled "Sumi Jo in Paris - For my Father"

Her grandma had a superstition if Sumi knocks something, any bad fortune would go away. Although Sumi's family lived in a rented property, her parents bought a piano for her to play.

Her mother trained Sumi strictly. Sumi recalled even when her mother went out; she locked the door outside so that Sumi couldn't play hooky.

In a Korean talk show, "Golden Fishery: Knee-drop Guru," she recalled that the first two years of Seoul National University was the most unique time of her life. She had not studied and felt in love for the first time. In the interview, she said that she could not even afford to buy a ticket to Italy, but there was an unexpected income to her family later. She had only $300 when she went to Italy to pursue further music study.

In an interview with a Korean newspaper, she said if she had the second life, she would like to have an ordinary woman's life as a wife of a man.

She marked the highest score in the history of Seoul National University (SNU) entrance exam, for her vocal performance.

She fainted on the street when she studied in Italy, and later was diagnosed with anemia. She slept only 4 hours to study Italian language and music, and also to tutor to earn money to keep studying in Italy.

She had studied music with a scholarship in Seonwha Arts Junior-High School and Seonwha Arts High School for six years.

She has been claimed as "a voice from above" by Maestro Herbert von Karajan.

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Sumi Jo

Sumi Jo Photo by: www.cs.princeton.edu

Undetermined Music Artists