Eun Sun Kim Kicks off Wagner Initiative at SFO • October 2023
San Francisco, California
San Francisco Opera Music Director Eun Sun Kim has officially launched the Wagnerian portion of her multi-year Verdi-Wagner initiative, intended to help shape the company’s nuanced artistic growth, with Lohengrin. The four-and-a-half-hour epic starred Simon O'Neill, Julie Adams, Brian Mulligan, Kristinn Sigmundsson, and Judit Kutasi.
From The Artist: “Verdi and Wagner scores have such depth musically, and you can’t detach the relationship between the music and the drama. The musical language simply goes with the drama! In bel canto opera, you have such beautiful melodies, but not necessarily with real drama behind them.”
Photo by Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera
Photo by Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera
Critical Acclaim
“Eun Sun Kim makes her mark with San Francisco Opera’s new Lohengrin, conducting with tender specificity. Kim maintained a rhythmic control that was at once propulsive and free, giving singers the space they needed to let their artistry register while keeping the drama proceeding.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
“Kim delivers a riveting Lohengrin – every note fell into place naturally, the pace and orchestral phrasing matching Wagner’s intentions at every turn. Each moment seemed to have its own attributes with personality suitable to what was happening, yet completely within the flow of the score conjuring nimble music from the orchestra.”
–Seen and Heard International
“The deeply engaging and never-boring production was led ably by Kim. She squeezes the essence of Wagner’s sound from the 71-member orchestra and does so throughout in a clear-eyed reading of the score.”
–The Vacaville Reporter
“The brisk tempos of Kim kept her in charge of the large orchestra the whole way. She never flagged, nor did they. The opening Prelude set the downbeat of a realistic, down-to-earth performance. One could feel, however, Kim’s determination to take this story just where she wanted and that accented the main production point.”
–OperaWire
“Kim established firm musical control from the first whispered sounds of the prelude…[to] the magical moments when this conductor unlocked all fetters to the lyricism of Wagner’s poetic development, notably first in Elsa’s dream, then in Ortrud’s diatribes, in Telramund’s sniveling, and finally in Lohengrin’s pompous revelations. As is her wont Kim made the big moments huge. And hugely satisfying.”
–Opera Today
“A magnificent score, and excellently conducted by Kim in the first-of-many trips she plans to take to Wagnerville.”
–48 Hills
“Kim led an expansive, fiery performance, finely detailed and drawing all forces together with explosive intent. "
–Bay City News
“Kim led a magnificent performance of expansive grandeur, marked by musical coherence, sonic beauty, and a sense of inexorable forward movement. Between Kim’s alertness to the musical drama and the excellence of the cast, the performance was riveting from start to finish."
–San Francisco Classical Voice
“Kim, who conducted her first Lohengrin with this performance, led the Orchestra in a reading marked with clarity, power, majesty and splendor. In her hand, Wagner’s score – the last of his Romantic period – came alive with the emphasis on the many musical motifs. Kim chose a well-judged pace that maintained the arc of the whole score, an important achievement as Lohengrin could easily sound plodding and tiresome without tight control. Climaxes were thrillingly shaped, and the quiet parts were incisively rendered. Kim was also sensitive to the needs of her cast, making sure that each excelled without drowning them with the sound of the orchestra.This was truly a superb achievement for San Francisco Opera and an auspicious first chapter in the Wagner opera journey with Eun Sun Kim.”
–Parterre Box