Like it or not, 2016 is still Sumi Jo’s year with well-received concerts from Texas to Japan (the Seaside Jazz Festival), Paris and Italy (with Andrea Bocelli), at the Chatelet Theater in Paris where she got another standing ovation and on to Australia where the applause and rave reviews got louder and wilder.
She is a soloist of the New York Philharmonic on Jan. 31 after which she has a return engagement with the Hong Kong Philharmonic on Feb. 3, then she will be in Manila for the second time at the Meralco Theater on Feb. 7 with pianist Najib Ismail.
Of her latest engagements, the ecstatic audience adulations at Paris Chatelet Theater and Australia show her vocal artistic prowess has remained unblemished through the years.
Indeed, she keeps fond memories of her recital in Theatre du Chatelet for special reason.
Pointed out the soprano: “France, especially Paris, boasts of its highest level of culture among other European nations. The nation is home to Theatre du Chatelet, regarded as one of the most coveted, prestigious opera houses among many musicians. After I got an offer to hold a recital there, I prepared tremendously. Determined to show something this time I ventured into a new challenge: completing pieces by great composers in seven languages including Russian, Spanish, German, and so on. Two months into intense practice with pianists, I was ready to show to perfection what I’d got. The process of being perfect was really arduous. At some point, I ask myself, ‘Why am I doing this? I could impress the audience and be applauded enough with my previous repertoire. ‘But, I wanted to do better and to be more recognized. I got everything ready until I hit the stage. After the show, I received a standing ovation and rave reviews. Usually, I feel a bit of emptiness after leaving the stage, but then looking at myself in the mirror, I was proud of myself. It was a fantastic moment. We always need a new challenge, which I am sure will take you to the next level. I’ve seen many, especially those in professional fields, getting complacent as they get on the stable track. That is the most dangerous moment. You should not stop there. You should give yourself a new challenge to make a leap forward.”
The acclaim followed her in Australia where she sang before Christmas.
Music writer Lynn Lancaster reported: “The major highlight of the first half was a ravishing, spellbinding version of Handel’s Lascia Ch’Io pianga from Rinaldo that stopped everything else in its tracks with its powerful emotion. Screams of brava followed after Dell’Acqua’s Villanelle—another fiendishly difficult showcase aria. We then jumped to Spain for Delibes’ Chanson Espagnole—Sumi Jo was passionate and seductive, unleashing her inner Carmen.”
Asian singers seldom land on lead roles written for European divas, but Sumi Jo made a difference. She sang Gilda (Rigoletto) in Trieste in Italy and got the attention of the German music icon, Herbert von Karajan, who cast her as Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera opposite Placido Domingo. She reprised the same role with the Vienna State Opera and proceeded to sing the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In the 2008-2009 season of the Toulon Opera, the second largest opera house in France, she got to sing her first Violetta (Traviata).
Did she experience some “resistance” in the world’s most revered opera houses singing Gilda, Oscar and later Violetta with a distinct Asian face?
She intimated she conquered all likely resistance by just being the best she could be. “There must have been. But I wasn’t very daunted by conventional pressure about my race or my face. To ensure that people would not focus on such minor things, I really tried to perfect my technique and everything I did with my body on stage in order to show the great music of Rigoletto and La Traviata. I think that nowadays, there are many more singers of diverse ethnicities, so I’m glad it is getting easier. I feel proud to have perhaps opened the door in some way.”
Sumi Jo’s concert in Manila is made possible in partnership with Marco Polo Hotel Manila, 98.7 DZFE The Master’s Touch, Steinway and Sons Piano and Leica.
For ticket inquiries, call 0906-5104270 or Ticketworld at (02) 891-9999, CAEO at (02) 782-7164, 0918-3473027 or 0920-9540053.
