Sumi Jo first took the notoriously persnickety Italian opera world by storm two decades ago. Such was the hubbub over her performance as Gilda in Verdi's "Rigoletto" in Trieste that the Korean singer, then in her 20s and barely out of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, caught the notice of the late Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan. In his words, she possessed "a voice from heaven." The maestro immediately cast her as his Oscar in his 1988 production of Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera."
Since then, the lyric coloratura soprano, whose South Korean heritage remains very close to her heart, has been constantly in demand, bringing her silvery, feather-light, effortlessly agile voice to all the major opera houses around the world and bagging a "Best Opera Recording" Grammy in 1993.
Jo excels in the music of the late 18th century and the 19th century, from Rossini and early Verdi to Offenbach and Thomas, standing out in fiendishly difficult roles such as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" and the ultimate bel canto role of Lucia in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor."