Sunhae Im
The repertory of soprano Sunhae Im focuses on early music, and she has worked with leading conductors in the field, including Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, and Ton Koopman. Her recordings, however, are a varied lot that includes music as far forward in time as Liszt and Mahler, as well as American popular song.
Im was born in Cheorwon-gun, South Korea, on the North Korean border, on January 15, 1976. She studied with Lokyung Pak at Seoul National University, and a series of prizes in 1997 brought her wide attention in East Asia: she took grand prizes at the Korean Voice Competition in Seoul and the Korean Schubert Society-Munhwa Ilbo Competition in Seoul, second prize at the Dong-A Music Competition in Seoul, and second prize and the audience prize at the International Schubert Competition in Osaka, Japan. Im went on to the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in Germany for studies with Roland Hermann. In 2000, she was a finalist at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. By that time, she had already begun appearing professionally, singing in a Mozart concert led by Herreweghe in 1999 and playing Barbarina in a Frankfurt Opera production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. She made several more appearances in Frankfurt and at the Staatsoper Hannover, where she was a cast member for several years. In 2002, Im released her debut album, Haydn: Cantates pour les Esterházy, on the Harmonia Mundi label.
Im has appeared with top early music groups, including the Akademie für alte Musik in Berlin and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. She has worked especially closely with conductor Jacobs on recordings, appearing on his readings of two Bach Passions and several Mozart operas. Her repertory is notably wide, extending from the Renaissance to the 20th century (Poulenc and Erwin Schulhoff). Among her notable performances was one of Haydn's Mass in B flat major, Hob. 22/14 ("Harmoniemesse"), at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, in a mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. Im has recorded for the Coviello Classics, PentaTone, and Aparté labels in addition to Harmonia Mundi. Her repertory also extends to popular music; she issued an album of popular songs, The Man I Love, and appeared in several Korean productions of the Maury Yeston musical Phantom. In 2023, Im was heard with baritone Thomas Hampson on an Aparté recording of orchestral songs by Liszt.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
8 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Liszt: Orchestral Songs
Thomas Hampson, Sunhae Im, Stéphanie Houtzeel, Tomasz Konieczny, Orchester Wiener Akademie, Martin Haselböck
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released by Aparté on Apr 28, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: L'isola disabitata, Hob. XXVIII:9
Bernhard Forck, André Morsch, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Anett Fritsch, Sunhae Im, Krystian Adam
Opera - Released by PENTATONE on Jun 8, 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Man I Love
Musical Theatre - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on Jun 14, 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Didone abbandonata
Classical - Released by CPO on Feb 7, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
BACH, J.S.: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232
Classical - Released by Naxos on Mar 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orfeo(s): Italian and French Cantatas
Sunhae Im, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Mar 23, 2015
5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Man I Love
Musical Theatre - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on Jun 14, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tonight (From "West Side Story")
Musical Theatre - Released by Universal Music Ltd. on Jan 14, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo