Eun Sun Kim Named Music Director of San Francisco Opera
“She leads with great vision on the podium but also welcomes each and every person into the creative process, inviting them to do their very best work. The resulting art is spectacular.” Eun Sun Kim becomes the first woman to serve as Music Director of a Level 1 American opera company.
December 5, 2019
“From my very first moments at San Francisco Opera, I felt this was home. There was an unusual feeling of open collaboration across so many facets of the Company—a real sense of professional alchemy. I’m deeply honored to be joining the San Francisco Opera family and helping to carry this incredible lineage forward.”
Eun Sun Kim has been appointed the Caroline H. Hume Music Director of San Francisco Opera, making her the first woman to serve as music director of a Level 1 American opera house.
Ms. Kim will become the fourth music director in the history of San Francisco Opera, leading the orchestra, chorus, and music staff, and working with General Director Matthew Shilvock; Managing Director: Artistic Gregory Henkel; and other members of the Company on repertoire and casting. She will be a key member of the creative leadership, helping to shape the artistic direction of the Company’s second century, working closely with the young artist programs, and bringing great opera to Bay Area audiences.
Effective immediately, Ms. Kim is Music Director Designate; she will participate in the planning of future seasons and in orchestral auditions. She will conduct the Company’s new production of Beethoven’s Fidelio as part of the opening weekend of the 2020–21 season. Complete information about San Francisco Opera’s 2020–21 season will be announced in January.
As Music Director, she will conduct up to four productions in each season of her initial five-year contract, in addition to conducting concerts, working with San Francisco Opera’s resident artist Adler Fellows, and participating in the executive leadership of the organization.
Born in South Korea, 39-year-old Eun Sun Kim conducts frequently at major opera houses across Europe and is increasingly recognized in North America as an insightful interpreter of the operatic and symphonic repertoire. She made her U.S. debut in September 2017, leading a production of La traviata at Houston Grand Opera, and she was subsequently named the company’s first principal guest conductor in 25 years. Last month, she made her Washington National Opera debut conducting Die Zauberflöte, and upcoming U.S. company debuts include productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and LA Opera. She returns to Houston Grand Opera in April for a production of Salome. In the concert hall, she has conducted the Cincinnati Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Milwaukee Symphony, and future performances include subscription concerts with the New York Philharmonic and Oregon, San Diego, and Seattle symphonies.
Photo by Marc Olivier Le Blanc
“Eun Sun Kim brings a unique energy to San Francisco Opera. She connects all of us—audiences, artists, technicians, administrators—in the pursuit of one singular artistic journey, bringing thoughtful leadership, deep compassion, and an incredible respect for everyone in the theater. She leads with great vision on the podium but also welcomes each and every person into the creative process, inviting them to do their very best work. The resulting art is spectacular. This community can look forward to a future of extraordinary music-making that connects deeply to the core of what it means to be human. It is a privilege to welcome Eun Sun to be our next music director.”
Conductor Eun Sun Kim Kicks off Powerhouse 2019/20 Season
“Kim cultivated a rich, relaxed sound in the strings. Each phrase breathed, yet she also led with momentum, knowing just the right moment to push ahead.” The Korean maestra has just made important debuts in L.A. and Munich, as well as a hotly anticipated return to Cincinnati.
September 10, 2019
““A dynamic presence as she led, illuminating details of the score with clarity and expressive power. The finale, a towering passacaglia, unfolded with depth and the musicians responded with polished, refined playing.””
The Korean maestra began her 19/20 season with debuts with the LA Philharmonic and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and a highly anticipated return to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, with whom she became the first woman to conduct the prestigious May Festival in 2018.
Eun Sun Kim Makes San Francisco Opera Debut of "Astonishing Vibrancy and Assurance"
“Everything from the highly characterized singing to the lush yet keenly honed reading of the score, under Kim’s baton, registers in a vividly visceral, emotionally penetrating way. Nothing feels or sounds gratuitous; just about everything, across three-and-a-half musically and dramatically absorbing hours, seems essential.” Eun Sun Kim’s house debut in San Francisco earns widespread critical acclaim.
June 28, 2019
Photo by Cory Weaver
Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim has earned widespread critical acclaim for her house debut at San Francisco Opera, where she leads a Rusalka cast that includes Rachel Willis-Sorensen, Jamie Barton, Brandon Jovanovich, and Kristinn Sigmundsson.
Read reviews:
“Magnificent musical values on display from top to bottom. Presiding over everything, in a company debut of astonishing vibrancy and assurance, was conductor Eun Sun Kim, who drew glorious playing from the Opera Orchestra and paced every scene freely but precisely.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“In her San Francisco Opera debut, conductor Eun Sun Kim assuredly drew splendid playing from an ensemble that proved its versatility (the instrumentalists spent the prior night playing Baroque). She brought forward the music’s visceral quality laying deep under the folkloric connotations. More, she succeeded to balance Wagnerian-like statements with subtle invocations of Mendelssohnian delicacy.”
Bachtrack
“A detailed and beautifully paced interpretation of the lovely score. Dvorak must have been thinking of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" for his passionate final duet between the Prince and Rusalka, and he was probably aiming for some Verdian flavor with scenes between the water nymph and her Water Goblin dad (think "Rigoletto") and appearances by the hideous witch Jezibaba ("Il Trovatore"). Regardless of theatrical influences, Eun Sun Kim underscored [Dvorak’s] unmistakable musical sound with sympathetic support from the orchestra.”
Bay Area Reporter
“A gripping company debut, bringing out the Czech pulse and phrasing under a shiny surface of supple orchestral playing. The Korean-born artist maintained impeccable balances with all the singers and kept the score unfolding with a sense of inevitability. She wrangled the big cast into a cohesive, propulsive engine.”
Seen and Heard International
“Kim draws warm incisive playing from the orchestra, adding to the dramatic impact and underpinning the moving final scene…”
Classical Voice
“Lush, accessible, frequently moving. The dependable San Francisco Opera orchestra, conducted by Eun Sun Kim in her company debut, outdoes itself, especially as the opera soars to its demonic climax.”
Theatrius
“Kim made a strong impression with her company debut, leading a performance that was powerful and passionate. She coaxed glorious playing from the Orchestra…an auspicious debut for her, and the audience responded enthusiastically.”
Parterre Box
“Kim’s shimmering, beautifully contoured performance of the Dvorak’s melody-immersed operatic masterpiece, elicited a brilliant response from the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.”
Opera Warhorses
“Kim drove the emotional flow, pulling the vibrant Dvorak colors from the triple winds of the opera orchestra, urging full-throated force from its strings.”
Opera Today
“Musically and vocally, too, it is carried off with highly impressive results. Within Dvořák’s lush orchestration there’s a whiff of Wagner, a sense of Strauss and a touch of Tchaikovsky among his influences and conductor Eun Sun Kim, in her company debut, captures the darkness, the gossamer-like, the bombastic and mystery of the score with elan.”
OperaChaser
“In this capacious and captivating production at the War Memorial Opera House, everything from the highly characterized singing to…the lush yet keenly honed reading of the score, under conductor Eun Sun Kim’s baton in her fine company debut, registers in a vividly visceral, emotionally penetrating way. Nothing feels or sounds gratuitous; just about everything, across three-and-a-half musically and dramatically absorbing hours, seems essential. The music has a cumulative force, culminating in a duet for Rusalka and the Prince of such excruciating tenderness and bone-deep truth that the Liebestod of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde can’t help but come to mind. Everything has amplitude and authority… Rusalka, the last and clearly best of the company’s three summer productions, is a triumph in all ways. This wonderfully wrought work, last seen her 24 years ago, has returned to the San Francisco Opera stage in a stirring, disturbing, exhilarating way, sure to etch itself in the audience’s memory.”
San Francisco Classical Voice