Eun Sun Kim

Following “a company debut of astonishing vibrancy and assurance” (San Francisco Chronicle) in Rusalka, Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim was named the Caroline H. Hume Music Director of San Francisco Opera, where she began her tenure in 2021. She is a regular guest conductor at the world’s most important opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. On the heels of Ms. Kim’s Met debut, noted for an “assured technical command, subtlety and imagination,” The New York Times recognized her as Classical Music’s Breakout Star.

 In the 24/25 season, Ms. Kim makes her much-anticipated Royal Opera House Covent Garden debut with performances of Tosca, before returning to Staatsoper Berlin for Simon Boccanegra. At San Francisco Opera, she furthers her multi-season exploration of the operas of Verdi and Wagner with performances of Un ballo in maschera and Tristan und Isolde, and also leads performances of Idomeneo and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Further appearances this season include return engagements with Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as debuts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano.

 Ms. Kim’s major orchestral engagements include the Berliner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Gothenburg Symphony, and Seoul Philharmonic. She has also conducted European orchestras in Barcelona, Bonn, Madrid, Malmö, Marseille, Milan, Lille, London, Nancy, Oslo, Palermo, Stuttgart, and Santiago de Compostela. In North America, her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic was quickly followed by engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where the Business Courier hailed her as “impeccable…a dynamic presence, illuminating details of the score with clarity and expressive power.” Her collaboration with the National Brass Ensemble, including a new arrangement of Wagner’s Ring cycle, was released by Pentatone on the album Deified.

 Ms. Kim’s tenure at San Francisco Opera heralds a new vision for its second century, with Kim on the podium for Il trovatore, Lohengrin, Dialogues of the Carmélites, La traviata, Fidelio, The Magic Flute, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra. With a growing North American presence, she has enjoyed operatic successes at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, where her debut earned her an appointment as the company’s first Principal Guest Conductor in twenty-five years and The New York Times pronounced her “a major star…with great sensitivity and flexibility.”

 Ms. Kim maintains close connections in Europe, where she has recently conducted La bohème at Teatro alla Scala and Wiener Staatsoper, Les contes d’Hoffmann at Opéra national de Paris, a staged Verdi Requiem with Dutch National Opera, Carmen at Opernhaus Zürich, and Hänsel und Gretel at Bayerische Staatsoper. She has been frequently engaged by Staatsoper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Royal Swedish Opera, Royal Danish Opera, and, and has celebrated successes in such varied repertoire as Ariadne auf Naxos, Il barbiere di Siviglia, La bohème, Die Csárdásfürstin, The Count of Luxembourg, Der Fliegende Holländer,Madama Butterfly, Un ballo in maschera, La sonnambula, La traviata, and Il trovatore.

 Ms. Kim studied composition and conducting in her hometown of Seoul, South Korea, before continuing her studies in Stuttgart, where she graduated with distinction. Directly after graduation, she was awarded the First Prize in the International Jesús López Cobos Opera Conducting Competition at the Teatro Real Madrid.

2024/25

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