Sumi Jo to hold ‘La Luce’ concert

Soprano Sumi Jo will hold a recital, “La Luce,” on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul.

Jo will sing pieces from her latest album, “La Luce,” which contains “light“ classic songs of softer, more emotional nature by Russian composer Igor Krutoy, who wrote the song that Jo sang at the opening of the 11th Winter Asian Games last year in Kazakhstan.

The world-class coloratura will also present well-known songs from her repertoire such as ”Music of the Night” from the musical “Phantom of the Opera,” as well as other favorites from the musical, “Elisabeth,” and operetta “The Merry Widow.“

Musical stars Ok Ju-hyun and Lim Tae-kyung will also be performing. Lim will sing a duet with Jo while Ok will join them for a trio performance. The Korea Herald Youth English Choir will also perform with Jo.

The soprano has expressed hopes that she would be able to embrace not only classical music fans but fans of other music genres as well.

“(People) instantly think that classical music concerts will be boring or require extremely stiff sitting posture. But I hope people will enjoy my concert and return with joy and fun,” Jo said in an interview before the release of her album.

The singer has been working as the cultural ambassador of the new wave of Korean classical music, known as K-Classic, over the years.

Jo has just successfully finished “We are Friends Concert with Sumi Jo” in Hanoi celebrating the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Vietnam. She also performed at Paraguay and Argentina in September to mark diplomatic ties with the respective countries.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)