Sumi Hwang

South Korean soprano Sumi Hwang completed her studies at the National University of Seoul and the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where she studied with Frieder Lang, Donald Sulzen and Céline Dutilly and took part in master classes with Helmut Deutsch, Andreas Schmidt, Dalton Baldwin and Lorraine Nubar. Among her many competition successes she won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the international Grandi Voci Competition in Salzburg, First Prize at the Anneliese Rothenberger Competition in Konstanz and the Emmerich Smola Förderpreis awarded by SWR.

After winning the Concours Reine Elisabeth competition in Brussels, she became a member of the ensemble at the Theater Bonn for four years, where she debuted in roles such as Micaëla in Carmen, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, while also appearing on stage as Liù in a revival of Turandot. Expanding her roles, she went on to perform Almirena (Rinaldo), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare in Egitto), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Marzelline (Fidelio), Leïla (Les pêcheurs de perles) and Mimì (La Bohème). Other notable appearances have included the title role of Lena in Marius Felix Lange's opera Vom Mädchen, das nicht schlafen wollte and her debut at the Vienna Kammeroper as Fiordiligi under the direction of Stefan Vladar.

Sumi Hwang has attracted international attention following guest appearances as Pamina at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Norina in Donizetti's I pazzi per progetto at the Prinzregententheater in Munich, and as the Princess in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges at the Korean National Opera in Seoul. At the Daegu Opera House she appeared again as Mimì, while with the Orchester Wiener Akademie she performed as a soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, taking her to both the Vienna Musikverein and on tour to South Korea. She was further heard as Micaëla in a new production at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, where she became a permanent ensemble member in the 2021/2022 season. She subsequently appeared there in roles including Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Ilia (Idomeneo) and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte).

As a lied singer, Sumi Hwang regularly collaborates with pianist Helmut Deutsch, with whom she has performed various recitals in Europe and Asia, making her debut as part of the Rosenblatt Recitals at London's Wigmore Hall. Her first solo debut album with lieder/songs by Franz Liszt, Benjamin Britten and Richard Strauss – together with Helmut Deutsch – was released in 2019.

On the concert stage, the soprano has given numerous performances with Dvořák's Requiem in Munich's Herkulessaal, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, selected concert arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo, Mozart's Requiem with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra conducted by Markus Stenz at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Christian Jost's Dichterliebe recomposed at the Tongyeong International Music Festival, and the premiere of Unsuk Chin's solo piece for soprano and orchestra Puzzles and Games from Alice in Wonderland in 2017 under Christoph Eschenbach. Additional performances include a series of concert performances of Puccini's La Bohème with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and his opera Fidelio with the Norwegian Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

With Unsuk Chin's Puzzles and Games from Alice in Wonderland, Sumi Hwang made her debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, while she performed Strauss' Four Last Songs as a guest soloist with the Copenhagen Philharmonic conducted by Sebastian Weigle. Other performances include Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem and the Japanese premiere of Daniel Schnyder's oratorio The Revelation of St. John with the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra under Sebastian Weigle, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, and selected songs by Gustav Mahler with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Hans Graf. Among other appearances in the current season, Sumi Hwang can be heard as soloist in Ein deutsches Requiem with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra under Sebastian Weigle.

Since September 2022 Sumi Hwang has been working as a professor of singing at Kyunghee University in Seoul.