Queen of the Night, Magic Flute, The Glimmerglass Festival 2015
The tales of hoffmann
"As Olympia, the mechanical doll that Hoffmann is tricked into believing is his love, So Young Park got by and sang spectacularly."
"So Young Park’s Giuletta was one of those perfect casting decisions, matching the talented singer with a role that suited her gifts: she was an hypnotic mechanical doll. While her soprano soared, her body was in constant motion, vibrating back and forth and side to side. Thanks go to choreographer Kitty McNamee who did a wonderful job, but Park had the physical ability to take the character and make it her own."
"There is something irresistibly charming about Park. Add a voice that is pin-point perfect no matter how high the notes go, and it’s clear why she is a rising star. With her wonderful herky-jerky movements, flashing eyes and bright orange fright wig, Park almost steals the show."
The Abduction from the seraglio
"Soprano So Young Park, however, proved a dazzling, perky Blonde. The chemistry between her and Robinson brought the staging to life."
"So Young Park as Blonde was delightful at every turn, her bright and agile soprano so at home with Mozart. "
-The International review of Music
"Soprano So Young Park was an astonishing Blondchen"
"The other standout was So Young Park’s Blonde. What a clear, beautiful voice; everyone noticed and clearly appreciated her vocal gift, not to mention her spunky no-nonsense acting."
"Park's delightfully soubrettish Blondchen"
"the bright-voiced So Young Park, ..But it is So Young Park that commands with her flirtatious charm and lilting high notes."
QUEEN OF THE NIGHT - DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
LOS ANGELES OPERA
"...a stunning Queen of the Night."
- LA Times
"And it is worth noting that the longest sustained ovation of the night, went to the Queen of the night, sung with string-of-pearls clarity and stratospheric high notes by emerging start So Young Park."
- Los Angeles Daily News
"As the queen, Park draws even louder applause as she skillfully navigates Mozart's tricky scales with a powerfully birdlike charisma."
- LA Weekly
"While everyone taking on the challenge now is at least solid, the main standout is So Young Park in the vocally showy role of the Queen of the Night"
- LAist
"Soprano So Young Park is breathtaking as the Queen of the Night. Her exquisite and confident voice sends chills down your spine.
- Arts Beat LA
"The Queen of Night vengeance aria from So Young Park was the high point of the entire evening."
- Off-Ramp
"Soprano So Young Park (YAP) sang the Queen of the Night with considerable verve and fine enuciation. She had the twinkling staccati as well as a smooth Mozartean line that the role calls for."
- Opera Today
"The finest singing of the night, however, belonged to soprano So Young Park, who made quite an impression as Queen of the Night. Park, a current participant in L.A. Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, was able to capture the character’s madness without sacrificing her impeccable vocal technique, as was evident in her second aria “Der Hölle Rache.” She received the largest ovation during the curtain call."
- Daily Trojan
"So Young Park was a wonder. She managed to flawlessly sing the Queen of the Night while perched on a high shelf, arms pinned to her sides, and wrapped up in a white fabric like a baby in swaddling."
- International Review of Music
"I’m happy to report that the one performer who seemed to be lacking nothing was So Young Park as a crackling good Queen of the Night. Rock-solid tone from the very first betrayed not a hint of nerves. The voice is of generous size with excellent staccatos and stunning accuracy in the Vengeance Aria. If she squeaked the first high F in Act I she more than made up for it in Act II when she fired off the rest full on and with gusto. The audience burst into sustained cheers. The fact the she did all of this while strapped to a wall three stories in the air and wearing a terrifying insect head representing nothing less than an enormous spider is almost unimaginable. Brava!"
- Parterre
BOSTON LYRIC OPERA
"So Young Park is a seductive Queen of the Night, and superb in her coloratura."
"So Young Park is master of the high note — and the high heel.
The young opera singer, who makes her professional debut tomorrow night in Boston Lyric Opera’s “The Magic Flute,” is a soprano with a dazzling shoe collection."
Aspen Opera Theater Center
"Soprano Soyoung Park delivered a relentless, forceful and blazingly sung Queen of the Night. "
- Seen and Heard International
"Berkeley was impressed by the quality of the musicianship, especially of two lead singers: Soyoung Park as the Queen of the Night ("Someone said, She has such control of the aria, she can take it anywhere")"
New England Conservatory
"Soyoung Park delivered the Queen’s pyrotechnics with crystalline ease and verve."
THE GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL
"Young Artists filled out the cast. The most accomplished was So Young Park as the Queen of the Night. Her soprano emerged darker and more colorful 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 arpeggios, less so in the trill in her first aria and the triplets in her second."
"So Young Park, dead-accurate in the Queen of the Night’s high-flying arias"
"Coloratura soprano So Young Park is another successful alumna of South Korea’s substantial investments in music education in general and opera in particular. She flawlessly dispatched both of the Queen’s two “star-blazing” arias, with their intricate coloratura sections."
"So Young Park’s incisive, firebrand of a Queen of the Night was arguably the audience hit of the day. Her penetrating lyric tone was deployed fearlessly with staggering accuracy. Her fearless attacks were supremely controlled, sustained tones were full-bodied, and her fleet coloratura was nigh unto flawless."
BOSTON BAROQUE
So Young Park was an excellent Queen of the Night, tossing off the iconic coloratura passages in a way that made them seem not like decorative vocal preening but like an extension of the Queen's own pitiless hauteur."
- Boston Globe
"Soprano So Young Park was a stunning, wonderfully nasty Queen of the Night, a role written originally for Mozart's sister in-law, Josepha Hofer. Park's bio states that this is her "signature role," and one could immediately hear why. She dispatched her coloratura high notes with apparent ease, hitting her statospherically high Fs twice with aplomb. Her Elizabethan costume and stage manner were also a joy to behold."
- The Arts Fuse
"So Young Park’s elegant, imposing Queen of the Night stopped the show twice with coloratura that was at once unusually warm and precisely produced. She found a nostalgic quality of lost love rather than harridan’s rage in her sexy, singular interpretation. Park already belongs on the world’s stage"
- The Boston Musical Intelligencer
salon de musiques
"So Young Park is a coloratura whose skills insure a long and wonderful career. Her ability to dramatically raise the volume of her powerful voice seems effortless, as does the controlled lowering to an almost imperceptible softness. Her performance of “Du Meines Herzens Kronelein” (You, My Heart’s Little Crown) was unforgettable."
OPERA COLORADO
The famous one, the difficult song of vengeance from the devilish Queen of the Night, is the show stopper and that is true of Opera Colorado's version. Soprano So Young Park hits the piece's impossible high notes with all the rage they require. Her brilliant purple gown is the exclamation point on her colorful character."
"Soprano So Young Park not only nailed every note but sang them both while precariously perched on a narrow platform suspended high above the stage."
ZERBINETTA - ARIADNE AUF NAXOS
OPERA THEATRE OF ST. LOUIS
"As Ariadne's polar opposite, the earthy Zerbinetta, So Young Park made the role's endless coloratura sound effortless (earning a prolonged ovation for her coloratura-on-steroids aria "Grossmächtige Prinzessin"), moved gracefully and accepted the adulation of the male characters as her natural due."
"But the queen of this production -- the singer who will make you swallow your gum -- is So Young Park as Zerbinetta, the flirtatious dancer/singer with whom all the comedians are in love. Miss Park sings a simply astonishing coloratura aria about her romantic history. Such vocally gymnastic wonders! She sings one high note that I think she must have invented, for surely nothing so high has ever been sung before."
BARBARINA - LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
LOS ANGELES OPERA
"His girlfriend, Barbarina, portrayed by So Young Park, sang her aria with radiant silvery tones. I understand she will sing the Queen of the Night next year."
ADELE - DIE FLEDERMAUS
New England Conservatory
"Soyoung Park as the chambermaid Adele first captured the audience with her comedic turns then unexpectedly her powerful soprano, steady and assured even in the highest register."
LISETTA - LA GAZZETTA
NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY
"Soyoung Park triumphed as Lisetta. She had the looks of the screen actress Anna Mae Wong as well as the latter’s quality of seductive danger. Her crystalline and powerful coloratura carried a nice color. She also was a hilarious dominatrix. She gets my critical gold star."