Performance Database

Korean tenor Charles Kim has been praised for having a voice of great beauty and for demonstrating elegant musicianship in performances with leading opera companies in Europe and Asia. After winning many local competitions, Kimʼs great success in the Shizuoka International Opera Competition led to international recognition. As a result, Maestro Gustav Kuhn invited him to his Early Tiroler Festival where the young tenor had an opportunity to work with Manfred Jung.

Kim developed his German singing skill further with Edda Moser, Rene Kollo and Kurt Moll. The period of work at Dortmund from 2003 to 2011 with Christine Mielitz established his stage presence in this fach. Kim attended Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, USA. He was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition while in the United States, and upon graduation in 2003, Kim relocated to Germany where he started his career as a house tenor with the Dortmund Oper.
 

Currently, Kim’s repertoire focuses on Wager Helden Parties. In addition to his successful portrayals of Arindal, Lohengrin and Parsifal, Kim's roles also include Siegmund, Erick, and Meistersinger. Kim performed Calaf in Turandot under the baton of Carlo Montonaro in Warsaw, and was the tenor soloist in Beethovenʼs Symphony No. 9 with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Theater Chemnitz, Kyoto and Fukuoka Symphony Orchestras, and the Poznan Philharmonic. He also performed Beethoven's Symphony on German national television with a choir of 60,000 at Schalke Stadium. He performed the Faust Symphony by Lizst with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Hubert Soudant and Verdiʼs Requiem with Karl Sollak in Poznan. Other productions include Faust (Gounod, Faust), Luigi, Rinuccio (Puccini, Il Triticco), Hoffmann (Offenbach,Hoffmanns Erzählungen), Bacchus (Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos), Don Jose (Bizet,
Carmen), Oedipus (Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex), Alwa (Berg, Lulu), and Tenor Soloist (Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde)
Kim has had a particular emphasis on roles including Verdi’s Aida, Trovatore, and Un ballo in maschera, as well as Puccini’s Tosca and Turandot. Kimʼs Cavarodossi in Tosca, Lohengrin in Lohengrin and Turridu in Cavelleria Rusticana earned critical acclaim, recognizing his “melting tone” and “sweet quality.”
 

Das Opernglass’ review about Arindal from Die Feen by R.Wagner, Jan.2014: "Hoch liegende Partie lag dem leichten Tenor von Charles Kim ausgezeichnet und gab ihm Gelegenheit, auch mit kernigen, heldischen Tönen zu glänzen." ("Tenor Charles Kim performed the high tenor part outstandingly with ease and the role also gave him the opportunity to glisten with solid heroic tones.")