Photo credit : Lanly Le
ABOUT
A native of South Korea, So Young Park thrills audiences with her “stunning” (LA Times) and “dead-accurate” (New York Times) voice. Recently she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute and New York Philharmonic with performing the Queen’s iconic aria. For the upcoming engagements, Ms. Park will make her company debut as Setsuko in An American Dream with Lyric Opera of Chicago, return to LA Opera to perform the Queen in Magic Flute, and Houston Grand Opera for the same role.
Her unique and flexible voice allows her to tackle many of opera’s most challenging soprano roles. Opera News described her signature role of the Queen of the Night as "darker and more colorful than that of the leggieros who usually take the role: the voice’s weight was a reminder that the Queen has urgent matters to impart before she lets loose with her fireworks. Park’s coloratura was dazzling in runs and arpeggio." She has performed the Queen with lots of leading opera houses in the US includes the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Michigan Opera Theatre and more.
Opera News praised her interpretation as Zerbinetta in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos with Opera Theatre of St. Louis as “always compelling vocally and dramatically-funny and flitry, loose with the character and strict with the music.” The St. Louis-Dispatch felt she made Zerbinetta’s “endless coloratura sound effortless.” She had recent success as a “dazzling” (LA Times) Blondchen in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio.
On the concert stages, Maestro Plácido Domingo invited Ms. Park to perform alongside him as a soloist for his concert at the Seoul Olympic Gymnasium, South Korea. Also, she made her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as Soprano Soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and returned to perform as Soprano Soloist in Esa-Pekka Salonen's Wing on Wing with Salonen as the conductor.
Ms. Park trained as a Los Angeles Opera Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist. During her two years with LA Opera, she performed the roles of The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Gossip in The Ghosts of Versailles (2-time GRAMMY Award-winning recording on PENTATONE), Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, and Pat Nixon in the Music Center’s 50th Anniversary Concert. In addition to her recording on LA Opera's The Ghosts of Versailles, Maestro Plàcido Domingo featured Ms. Park as a soloist on his recent Christmas album, My Christmas, recorded under Sony Classics at the world famous Capitol Records Studios.
Ms. Park earned her Artist Diploma and Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory, where she performed Lisetta in the world premiere of the critical edition of Rossini’s La Gazzetta, Adele in Die Fledermaus, and Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Seoul National University, where she graduated first in her class and performed the roles of Violetta in La Traviata and Gilda in Rigoletto.
updated February 2019
