THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609280034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 126 lines
SOMETIMES, FIRST impressions do count the most. Consider Sujung Kim.
Both audiences and critics took notice last October when the young, Korean-born soprano made her American debut as the martyred daughter Gilda in Virginia Opera's season-opening ``Rigoletto.''
At evening's end, she received a lengthy standing ovation. The Washington Post wrote that her performance alone was reason enough to see the production: ``Kim is exactly right for her role, with a voice that has ringing high notes delivered with finely controlled power and agility.'' Opera News said she was nothing short of stunning.
Kim returns to the Harrison Opera House Friday for another season-opener, this time at center-stage in ``Lucia Di Lammermoor,'' Donizetti's tragedy about love and loss in 18th century Scotland. In January, she sings Cleopatra in Handel's ``Julius Caesar,'' giving Norfolk audiences two more chances, for a while anyway, to catch this rising star.
Largely on the strength of ``Rigoletto,'' Kim is booked through 1998. This year, she'll reprise her Gilda twice, in Detroit and Santa Barbara, Calif., and add ``Carmen,'' ``The Marriage of Figaro'' and ``Romeo et Juliette'' to her repertoire.
``My manager took copies of the reviews and got me some jobs without auditioning,'' said Kim. ``Right after this, I go to Japan for a competition. We have a lot lined up, so I'm really happy.''
Only 28, with a promising career ahead of her, Kim's enthusiasm is not only genuine, it's infectious. The vocally and dramatically demanding Lucia, she said, will be a significant steppingstone.
``It's one of the most difficult soprano roles that exists, and I'm very excited and challenged by it. I love to learn more and more, to find better ways to sing and manage myself on stage. `Lucia' is all about learning. If I go through it really well, I'll accomplish a big step as a professional singer.''
Toward that, the Met helped finance her studies this summer in Italy. Kim spent 2 1/2 months in the cradle of opera, training with vocal coaches and conductors and giving five concerts.
But perhaps more importantly, she had the opportunity to study Italian. When Kim returned to the States in September, it was with a solid grasp on the language. It's already proven invaluable - for reasons besides the obvious - as she prepares for ``Lucia.''
``I had to speak this language to sing it properly,'' she said. ``But when you speak the language, the meaning of every word comes to you stronger. With `Lucia,' every single word was pounded into my heart. I seem to act and express myself better because of it. It's just different when you can understand.''
As she showed in ``Rigoletto,'' particularly in those scenes with Gilda and her bitter yet loving father, Kim's dramatic skills rival her vocal prowess.
``Lucia'' will be an even more exacting test. The famous ``Mad Scene'' at the beginning of Act III includes some of Donizetti's loveliest coloratura passages. Lucia, in mourning for her beloved mother and dreading a marriage arranged by her deceitful brother, believes she is with her departed lover.
She is happy in her madness.
It is Kim's responsibility to elicit the audience's sympathy without letting the scene become cliched. Peter Mark, Virginia Opera's general director, said the drama is in capable hands.
``The way Sujung becomes Lucia . . . it's exactly that acting and singing integrity that is so spellbinding,'' said Mark, who first worked with his young star three summers ago at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.
``You can't take your eyes off her. She is frail. She is innocent. You see her vulnerability and know she will never be able to stand up to the pressure.
``Those people who think they know Lucia well are going see development of character in a way they've never seen. I'm glad to have her signed up for these two shows (`Julius Caesar'). I encourage people to see her so they'll be able to say, `I heard her when . . . ' ''
For her part, Kim, a 1995 finalist in the Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition and a national winner in the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, humbly spreads around the credit for her success.
``These composers are such geniuses. They cut the right feeling into the melody, so I don't have to do much, just follow my instincts as the melody drives me. It's all right there.
``I want to really show the character in the right way, so people not only listen to the singing, they get into the drama and feel the story,'' she said. ``I try to be that person, to think what she would have done in that situation. I think I understand Lucia.''
Doomed Lucia is in love with Edgardo, the last of the rival Ravenswoods. Her brother Enrico, however, pushes her into marrying Arturo, a wealthy nobleman who can save the family's failing fortunes.
That theme of putting family interests before one's own is not uncommon in her native Korea, nor is the idea that a woman would accept an unwanted marriage without protest, said Kim, who is married.
``It's not past history for me. Still, things are like this, pushing to get married. One hundred years ago, people felt the same way. Human beings are still human beings. It makes it easier to act.''
Kim studied at the Seoul Music & Art School and Seoul National University, the same institution that produced soprano Sumi Jo, before earning her master's at Juilliard.
Learning English, she said, helped her overcome her natural reticence. In fact, it changed her personality entirely.
``I used to be very timid; I tried to listen more. But when I started studying in this country, there were people in class who didn't know as much as I did speaking out loud. I thought, `Who will know what I am thinking about my career if I don't express myself?' ''
Kim laughed.
``Now when I go home, my mom goes, `You talk too much. Why did you change so much?' ''
She had planned to sing Adele in a Korean production of ``Die Fledermaus.'' The schedule, though, eight performances in seven days, was too great a strain with the upcoming competition in Japan. It would have been the first time Kim's mother, who runs a restaurant in Seoul, would have seen her daughter in a showcase role.
Last year, Kim was one of the soloists when Mahler's Symphony No. 4 was performed in Korea. It was her first appearance there since leaving to study in America.
``It was a great experience to get to work in my own language. All my friends were in the orchestra,'' she said. ``I love to sing in my own country. The Mahler is beautiful, but it's not really demanding. I really want to sing a solo concert so I can show them what I have.
``But it's not going to happen in the next two years because I'm booked up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Graphic
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY KOREA OPERA
SOPRANO by CNB