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| Tenor Kim Kisun | ||
Written by Lee, Miho
Translated by Um, Yoonsun
“I am so excited about my first performance in my homeland.”
Kim Kisun, an opera singer whose name more well-known on European opera stages, now plans on playing his first opera, Rigoletto in Korea.
“His voice was incredibly high-pitched from the beginning to the end. He played a terrific role of Rocardo which is popular for its trickiness of delivering the lightness and heaviness of the sound,” claimed the Slovakia’s paper, Divadelný ústav.
The incredible voice belongs to Tenor Kim Kisun.
He is playing the character, Duca in Rigoletto in Seoul Arts Center’s Opera House from June 7 to 10. He is not well known here, but is a big name in Vienna, Austria, a place referred to as a birthplace of classical music.
Today he is a vocal professor in Vienna National University of Music and had over 50 shows from 2005. Since then, he has actively put on spectacular performances in Central and Eastern Europe, for instance, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia.
Before making his debut, he was recognized as a ‘street vocalist,’ singing aria in the street or park areas. This was due to his bleak financial conditions; he had to earn his tuition and living expenses on his own. He even recalled the memory, back in 2001 when he was struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis.
“One day, the landlord asked me to remember paying seven-month rent payments.”
It was a real wakeup call for him to do anything.
“A bump into street musicians made me decide to make a living out of singing in public places,” he stated.
He said, “At first, I was too embarrassed to make a single sound out in public. However, as time passes by, I started to build confidence in my voice and I began to draw regular audiences who came on time to listen to my songs.”
That made all the difference in his life.
Kim got an opportunity for audition in front of Pablino Androvich, the director of Sarajevo National Theater, thanks to Androvich’s wife who caught a sight of his performance on the street by chance.
Upon this opportunity, he was able to made a debut with Rigolette’s ‘La donna e mobile’ in Serbia National Opera House in Belgrade.
“To me, Rigoletto is a very special song because the song gave me a chance to perform in front of the director of Sarajevo National Theater and it helped me realize my opera debut.”
“The song is sung by Slovakia’s spiritual hero and world’s renowned tenor Peter Dvorsky during his audition and I cannot forget how inspired I was the first moment I listened to it. I cried out ‘magnificent’ out of pure joy,” he remarked.
Lately, requests for his performance are rushing in from all parts of the world, such as Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and so on.
One Specialist said "his 'high C' shines like crystal with high quality."
He addressed his plan of giving his utmost efforts as a vocal professor and an opera singer in central Europe.
He shuttled back and forth between Austria and Hungary with his wife for the past ten years.
“I am currently teaching 13 students in Vienna. They are youngsters willing to learn opera and I want to play a part in fostering talented students. Above all, I hope to perform a variety of songs that I have not yet give it a try as a professional opera singer.”
Last but not least, he mentioned that, “I always have a pride as a Korean. Wherever I perform in the future, I will carry on my work of being called as a proud Korean.”
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