Jump to content

Kwangchul Youn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gerda Arendt (talk | contribs) at 09:26, 30 October 2020 (→‎Life and career: trim further). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Kwangchul Youn (born 1966) is a Korean operatic bass who made an international career based in Germany.

Life and career

Youn was born in Cheongju[1] in a family child of peasants. He first trained to become an architect, but then turned to voice studies at Cheongju University at age 19.[1]

In 1988, he made his debut at the Seoul State Opera as de Sirieux in Giordano's Fedora. He continued his studies in 1990/91 at the Sofia Academy of Music with Lesa Koleva and from 1991 to 1993 at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with Herbert Brauer.[1] During this time, he received several awards at national and international competitions. He won the Operalia competition in Paris in 1993.[2]

In the 1993/94 season, Youn appeared as Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni at the Leipzig Opera.[1] From 1994 to 2004, he was a member of the Berlin State Opera,[3] where he appeared in s such as the King in Aida, the Minister in Fidelio, King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Bertram in Robert le diable, Colline in La Bohème and Lodovico in Otello.[2]

In 1996, he made his Bayreuth Festival debut as a night watchman in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He appeared as the Landgrave in Tannhäuser in 2002, Titurel in Parsifalin 2004, King Marke in Tristan und Isolde in 2005, and Fasolt in Das Rheingold and Hunding in Die Walküre in 2006. In 2008, he made his role debut there as Gurnemanz in Parsifal, directed by Stefan Herheim. From 2014, he appeared as Daland in Der fliegende Holländer.[3]

Since 2007, he has been working with Oper Frankfurt, where he sang the part of Philipp II in Verdi's Don Carlo. He has also appeared at the Liceu in Barcelona, at the Vienna State Opera (Mephisto in Faust), at the Metropolitan Opera (King Marke in Tristan and Isolde, Ferrando in Il trovatore), at the Washington National Opera, and at the London Royal Opera House as the King in Wagner's Lohengrin in 2009.[2]

Youn has appeared in concert at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome as well as at the Wiener Musikverein, the Vienna Konzerthaus (e.g. in March 2010 in Gustav Mahler's 8th symphony) and at the Salzburg Easter Festival. In the Berlin Philharmonie he could be heard in the Requiems by Mozart and Verdi, in the Nelson-Mass by Haydn and in Beethoven's Missa solemnis.[4]

He gave recitals with his piano partner Helmut Oertel, such as in summer 2007 at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth and in autumn 2007 at the Frankfurt Opera. In December 2009, a performance of Winterreise with Myung-Whun Chung at the piano took place at the Art Center, Seoul. He regularly sings the bass part in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at New Year's Eve concerts at the Konzerthaus in Berlin.

He has worked with conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Mark Minkowski, Fabio Luisi, Michael Gielen, Myung-Whun Chung, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Horst Stein and Thomas Hengelbrock in opera and concert as well as in CD productions, for example the Meistersinger recording of the Bayreuth Festival under the conduct of Daniel Barenboim at Teldec and for the label Harmonia mundi (La Didone, Croesus).[4]

He appeared in recordings of the operas Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Tiefland and Don Giovanni with conductor Bertrand de Billy.[4] A production of Daphne by Richard Strauss, conducted by Semjon Bychkov, was nominated for the Grammy Awards 2006 as best opera production.[4]

Since 2010, Youn holds a professorship at the College of Music of the Seoul National University.

Repertoire

  • Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Vincenzo Bellini
  • Umberto Giordano
  • Charles Gounod
  • Richard Strauss

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kutsch, K. J.; Riemens, Leo (2012). Youn, Kwangchul (in German) (4th ed.). Walter de Gruyter. pp. 5120–5121. ISBN 978-3-59-844088-5. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Kwangchul Youn". Royal Opera House. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Kwangchul Youn" (in German). Bayreuth Festival. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Kwangchul Youn". Salzburg Festival. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kwangchul_Youn&oldid=986185645"