Biography
Korean born Mezzo-Soprano Ryu-Kyung Kim has delighted audiences with her unique blend of dark luscious voice and powerful stage presence. Praised for her superb technique and innate musicality, Ms. Kim performs a wide range of roles from Handel, Bel Canto to Wagnerian repertoires.
Ms. Kim highlighted her recent seasons with the roles of Suzuki, Vera Boronel, Third Lady and Jade Boucher in Dayton Opera’s productions of Madama Butterfly, The Consul, The Magic Flute and Dead Man Walking, as soloist in Bach Magnificat, Mozart C minor Mass, Bach Lutheran Mass and Schubert Mass in C with Dayton Bach Society, and her debut performances with Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra and Greater Newburgh Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She was the featured Solo Vocal Artist for "Korea Now" Concert in Cairo, Egypt which was sponsored by Embassy of South Korea in Egypt, Korean Cultural Center, MUST Opera House, and Misr University of Science and Technology. Ms. Kim also performed as a featured artist in Avery Fisher Hall performance as Alto Solo in Handel’s Messiah with National Choral and Peniel Choir, the title role in Handel’s Orlando with Stony Brook Opera, Schoenberg’s arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Jake Heggie’s chamber song cycle, The Deepest Desire with Silicon Valley Music Festival and operatic selections from Aida, Don Carlo and Il Trovatore in Verdi Concert with Boheme Opera NJ. Ms. Kim also gave numerous lecture recitals on Schoenberg's first atonal song cycle, The Book of the Hanging Gardens, Op. 51 in recent years at various institutions including Indiana Wesleyan University, University of Dayton and Korean Consulate of New York. Ms. Kim’s upcoming engagements include Mezzo-soprano Solo in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Alto Solo in Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer with Bach Society of Dayton and Handel’s Messiah with Helena Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Festival Orchestra.
Ms. Kim also performed Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer with Great Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, Alto Solo in Mozart’s Requiem and Gala Concerts with Great Mountains International Music Festival in Pyeongchang, Korea, New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alto Solo in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with Staatskapelle Halle in Germany, Fresno Opera debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and also her Carnegie Hall performances as Alto Solo in Mozart Requiem and in Handel’s Messiah. In addition, Ms. Kim sang Maddalena in Rigoletto with Boheme Opera New Jersey and she was one of the featured soloists for Sonoco Welcome America! Independence Day Festival in Philadelphia.
She also made her German debut in three performances with Frankfurter Sinfoniker under the baton of Maestro Günter Gräf and made a Korean debut with her first Wagner role, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde with Korean Symphony Orchestra at Seoul Art Center in Seoul and performed with maestro James Judd in Seoul Art Center’s Gala Concert with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. She also sang Second Lady with San Antonio Lyric Opera in its The Magic Flute production and covered the role of Malika in Opera Orchestra of New York’s Carnegie Hall performance of Lakmé. Ms. Kim’s Cleveland Opera and El Paso Opera debuts as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly were highly acclaimed in the media. She sang her first Octavian in the concert performance of Der Rosenkavalier with Metro Chamber Orchestra in NYC and also covered the role of Carilda in Handel’s Arianna in Creta with Gotham Chamber Opera under the direction of Christopher Alden’s. She returned to Virginia Opera to sing Second Lady in The Magic Flute and Flora in La Traviata where she had covered the role of Carmen. Ms. Kim spent the summer of 2004 with Caramoor Music Festival singing Prince Fernando in American premier of Francesco Conti’s Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena. She sang the title role in La Cenerentola with Ash Lawn Opera Festival and also made a Polish debut as Andromaca in the Polish premiere of Rossini’s Ermione with Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice, Poland. Under the baton of Metropolitan Opera’s Christian Badea, she made her Baltimore Opera debut as Emilia in Verdi’s Otello and also appeared in Lucia di Lammermoor as Alisa. Ryu-Kyung Kim's appearance in the opera The Floating Box: A Story of Chinatown [New World Records, 2005], under the auspices of The Asia Society of New York, marked her first appearance in a premiere in which her multiple performances were highly praised in Opera News ("Miss Kim was simply splendid") and also in The New York Times. Ryu-Kyung Kim's operatic stints have included Carmen in Carmen, Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Idamante in Idomeneo, Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Flora in La Traviata, Ursula in Béatrice et Bénédict, Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus.
Ms. Kim highlighted her recent seasons with the roles of Suzuki, Vera Boronel, Third Lady and Jade Boucher in Dayton Opera’s productions of Madama Butterfly, The Consul, The Magic Flute and Dead Man Walking, as soloist in Bach Magnificat, Mozart C minor Mass, Bach Lutheran Mass and Schubert Mass in C with Dayton Bach Society, and her debut performances with Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra and Greater Newburgh Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. She was the featured Solo Vocal Artist for "Korea Now" Concert in Cairo, Egypt which was sponsored by Embassy of South Korea in Egypt, Korean Cultural Center, MUST Opera House, and Misr University of Science and Technology. Ms. Kim also performed as a featured artist in Avery Fisher Hall performance as Alto Solo in Handel’s Messiah with National Choral and Peniel Choir, the title role in Handel’s Orlando with Stony Brook Opera, Schoenberg’s arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Jake Heggie’s chamber song cycle, The Deepest Desire with Silicon Valley Music Festival and operatic selections from Aida, Don Carlo and Il Trovatore in Verdi Concert with Boheme Opera NJ. Ms. Kim also gave numerous lecture recitals on Schoenberg's first atonal song cycle, The Book of the Hanging Gardens, Op. 51 in recent years at various institutions including Indiana Wesleyan University, University of Dayton and Korean Consulate of New York. Ms. Kim’s upcoming engagements include Mezzo-soprano Solo in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Alto Solo in Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer with Bach Society of Dayton and Handel’s Messiah with Helena Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Festival Orchestra.
Ms. Kim also performed Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer with Great Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, Alto Solo in Mozart’s Requiem and Gala Concerts with Great Mountains International Music Festival in Pyeongchang, Korea, New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alto Solo in Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with Staatskapelle Halle in Germany, Fresno Opera debut as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly and also her Carnegie Hall performances as Alto Solo in Mozart Requiem and in Handel’s Messiah. In addition, Ms. Kim sang Maddalena in Rigoletto with Boheme Opera New Jersey and she was one of the featured soloists for Sonoco Welcome America! Independence Day Festival in Philadelphia.
She also made her German debut in three performances with Frankfurter Sinfoniker under the baton of Maestro Günter Gräf and made a Korean debut with her first Wagner role, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde with Korean Symphony Orchestra at Seoul Art Center in Seoul and performed with maestro James Judd in Seoul Art Center’s Gala Concert with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. She also sang Second Lady with San Antonio Lyric Opera in its The Magic Flute production and covered the role of Malika in Opera Orchestra of New York’s Carnegie Hall performance of Lakmé. Ms. Kim’s Cleveland Opera and El Paso Opera debuts as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly were highly acclaimed in the media. She sang her first Octavian in the concert performance of Der Rosenkavalier with Metro Chamber Orchestra in NYC and also covered the role of Carilda in Handel’s Arianna in Creta with Gotham Chamber Opera under the direction of Christopher Alden’s. She returned to Virginia Opera to sing Second Lady in The Magic Flute and Flora in La Traviata where she had covered the role of Carmen. Ms. Kim spent the summer of 2004 with Caramoor Music Festival singing Prince Fernando in American premier of Francesco Conti’s Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena. She sang the title role in La Cenerentola with Ash Lawn Opera Festival and also made a Polish debut as Andromaca in the Polish premiere of Rossini’s Ermione with Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice, Poland. Under the baton of Metropolitan Opera’s Christian Badea, she made her Baltimore Opera debut as Emilia in Verdi’s Otello and also appeared in Lucia di Lammermoor as Alisa. Ryu-Kyung Kim's appearance in the opera The Floating Box: A Story of Chinatown [New World Records, 2005], under the auspices of The Asia Society of New York, marked her first appearance in a premiere in which her multiple performances were highly praised in Opera News ("Miss Kim was simply splendid") and also in The New York Times. Ryu-Kyung Kim's operatic stints have included Carmen in Carmen, Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Idamante in Idomeneo, Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri, Flora in La Traviata, Ursula in Béatrice et Bénédict, Geneviève in Pelléas et Mélisande, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus.
Ms. Kim is also a perennial prizewinner, her most recent awards being those of The Oratorio Society of New York, The Liederkranz Foundation Voice Competition, The Annapolis Opera Voice Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Philadelphia District Auditions, and The Santa Fe Opera Scholarship for Outstanding Apprentice Artists. She is in frequent demand as a soloist in oratorio, having so far appeared in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Pueblo Symphony Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in Sapporo, Japan and Ulsan Symphony Orchestra in Korea, Händel's Israel in Egypt with Concerto Soloist Orchestra of Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Singers, Haydn's Harmoniemesse with Philomusica Orchestra and Chorale, Beethoven's C Major Mass and Choral Fantasy with the Washington, D.C. Festival Symphony, Händel's Messiah with the Houston Civic Orchestra and with the National Christian Festival at Carnegie Hall.
Ms. Kim earned Doctor of Music in Voice from State University of New York in Stony Brook. She also received her Artist’s Diploma in opera from the Academy of Vocal Arts, Master's and Bachelor's Degrees in Voice from Manhattan School of Music where she got a scholarship award, President Award and Alumni Award, and has studied at Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea, the Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel-Aviv, Israel and at the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. She has been a member of the Voice faculty at University of Dayton since 2013.
Ms. Kim earned Doctor of Music in Voice from State University of New York in Stony Brook. She also received her Artist’s Diploma in opera from the Academy of Vocal Arts, Master's and Bachelor's Degrees in Voice from Manhattan School of Music where she got a scholarship award, President Award and Alumni Award, and has studied at Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea, the Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel-Aviv, Israel and at the International Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. She has been a member of the Voice faculty at University of Dayton since 2013.
