Educated vocally at the College of Music of the Hanyang University, Korea, the young Korean tenor Woo-Kyung Kim first performed in public as early as 1997, during the Night of Korean Opera in the Seoul National Theater; in 1998 he had had his debut role as Don Octavio in Don Giovanni, and won the Korean Joong-Ang contest in 1999.
In autumn 2000, the young tenor was admitted to the song class of Prof. Helmut Deutsch at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. He attended master classes lead by Prof. Rita Hiner-Lill and participated in numerous contests in 2001, including Neue Stimmen in Gütersloh (2nd prize), Italienische Oper in Dresden (2nd prize with a final concert at the Semperoper), the international Belvedere singing contest in Vienna (1st prize), Francisco Vinas in Barcelona and Placido Domingo in Paris (finalist).
In 2003, Mr. Kim achieved second position in the Ferruccio Tagliavini singing contest in Graz, and came third in the Montserrat Caballé contest in Andorra; in August he was first in the renowned Mirjam Helin singing contest in Helsinki, and a couple of weeks later also in the the Operalia Placido Domingo contest in Los Angeles.
Woo-Kyung Kim got his first job in 2001 in the young ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, after he had appeared in February as Soliman in Mozart’s Zaide at the Prinzregententheater. In autumn that year he sang a concert at Neuschwannstein with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and in December appeared as Alfredo in La Traviata under baton of James Levine. He also sang Verdi’s Requiem, Cesar Franck’s Mass in A, as well as Bruckner’s Te Deum in the Speyer Cathedral.
In 2002, he gave a guest performance as Cassio in Othello during the Dresdner Festspiele, as well as Timoniere in the prèmiere of Ballata at the Monnaie Opera in Brussels. His concert engagments lead him to Rome, St. Petersburg, Speyer and Salzburg Festspielhaus. His concert repertoire includes Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 and Missa Solemnis, Haendel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and many others.
Since the 2003/2004 season, Woo-Kyung Kim has performed a variety of roles as a permanent member of the Semperoper ensemble.
