Sumi Hwang (; born 25 January 1986) is a South Korean soprano.

Early life and education

Hwang was born in

Yecheon Yecheon County is a county in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea. It is 661 km2 in area, and in 2004 had a population of 52,311. It has lost over 2/3 of its inhabitants since the mid-1960s. It consists of twelve administrative d ...

, South Korea. She studied at the Seoul National University where she received both her bachelor's and master's degrees in music. In 2011 she moved to Europe and completed the postgraduate course at the

Hochschule für Musik und Theater München The University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater München), also known as the Munich Conservatory, is a performing arts conservatory in Munich, Germany. The main building it currently occupies is ...

Career

Her singing talent was recognized in a church choir and she was encouraged to take singing lessons. In 2012, Hwang won second prize in the

ARD International Music Competition The ARD International Music Competition (german: link=no, Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD) is the largest international classical music competition in Germany. It is organised by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and held once a year in Munich. Si ...

in Munich, Germany. That year, Hwang also was award first prize at the Grandi Voci in Salzburg. In 2013, she also received first prize at the Anneliese Rothenberger Competition. In May 2014, Sumi Hwang won the first prize in the

Queen Elisabeth Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition ( nl, Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd, french: Concours musical international Reine Élisabeth) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in Brussels. The competition is named after Queen ...

in Belgium. Later that year, she made her United States debut at the Phillips Collection. She joined the ensemble of

Theater Bonn Theater Bonn (also known as the Stadttheater Bonn) is the municipal theatre company of Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is an organization that produces operas, musicals, ballets, plays, and concerts. It operates several performance venu ...

since September 2014. She performed the

Olympic Hymn The Olympic Hymn ( el, Ολυμπιακός Ύμνος, ), also known as the Olympic Anthem, is a choral cantata by opera composer Spyridon Samaras (1861–1917), with lyrics by Greek poet Kostis Palamas. Both poet and composer were the choice of ...

, singing in Greek, at the opening ceremony of the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

in Pyeongchang

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hwang, Sumi 1986 births Living people People from Yecheon County Seoul Arts High School alumni Seoul National University alumni University of Music and Performing Arts Munich alumni Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition South Korean operatic sopranos 21st-century South Korean women singers 21st-century women opera singers