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Biography

Korean bass Jihoon Kim trained in Korea and Italy before joining the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he appeared in more than 200 performances across 25 roles as a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme and later as a Principal Artist.

Since leaving the Royal Opera House, he has continued to work with leading houses and orchestras across the UK, Europe and Asia, including opera houses, festivals and concert.

More context and background can be found in the full biography.

“Kim has presence; even in silence, the camera returns to him.”
— from a review of his Royal Opera House performance

Biography — Full

Trained at Seoul National University, where he graduated first in his class, Jihoon Kim continued his studies at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, completing the course in two years with highest honours (summa cum laude).
This rigorous and professional training laid the technical and musical foundations of his work and continues to inform his artistic approach.

From Italy, Jihoon Kim moved to London to join the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he underwent a formative period of artistic development as a singing actor, working within a rigorous rehearsal and performance culture that places dramatic truth and musical integrity at its core.

He was a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme (2011–13), a Jette Parker Principal (2013–14), and subsequently a Principal Artist of the Royal Opera (2014–15). During this time, he performed more than 25 roles in over 200 performances for the company.

Since leaving the Royal Opera House, Jihoon Kim has appeared with leading companies across the UK and internationally, including Welsh National Opera, Opera Holland Park, Opera North, Grange Park Opera, Longborough Festival Opera, the Israeli Opera, and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia.
Alongside this work, he maintains a regular presence in South Korea and Japan.

His operatic repertoire includes roles such as Timur (Turandot), Colline (La bohème), Pietro (Simon Boccanegra), Silva (Ernani), Ferrando (Il trovatore), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), the Old Hebrew (Samson et Dalila), Ashby (La fanciulla del West), and Angelotti (Tosca).

He has collaborated with leading conductors including Sir Antonio Pappano, Christoph Eschenbach, Semyon Bychkov, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Dan Ettinger, Daniele Rustioni, Roberto Abbado, Carlo Rizzi, and Daniel Oren.

His concert work includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14. He also maintains an active recital presence throughout Europe and South Korea, with programmes spanning Italian, German, French, English, and Korean repertoire.

View full biography

Reviews

Selected comments.

This introduced the singer, who was for me the star of the evening, the South Korean bass Jihoon Kim, again a former Covent Garden Young Artist who is now becoming a star across the world. His voice is sensational, deep dark and powerful; it doesn’t seem possible that such power can come from such a slight frame....Kim is in my opinion fit to be compared to Christoff and I predict he will become a great star.
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Edinburgh Music Review
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…with the exception of what proved to be the finest performance of the evening: that of bass Jihoon Kim. A singer seasoned at the Royal Opera, he delivered a brief yet unforgettable appearance with his Hebrew prayer transformed into a lament. It was a moment of pure magic, in which he revealed that rare quality of true legato—when the voice seems to accompany itself, intertwining melody and continuo as though emerging from a single throat.In contrast to the beauty and profound expressiveness of his voice, Kim sang from the centre of the auditorium while simulating a suicide attack, all of it supported by the chorus, whose voices offered consolation from the tiers at the back of the hall.Provocation, beauty, and tension combined in a single moment...

...exceptuando la que fuera la mejor actuación de la velada, la del bajo Jihoon Kim. Un cantante curtido en la compañía de la Royal Opera que hizo una corta pero inolvidable intervención con su oración hebrea convertida en lamento. Un instante de magia en el que mostró esa rara cualidad del buen legato, cuando pareciera que la voz se acompaña a sí misma, entrelazando melodía y continuo desde una misma garganta. En contraste con la belleza y profunda expresividad de su voz, Kim cantó desde el centro del patio de butacas, mientras simulaba un atentado suicida, todo ello acompañado por el coro que reconfortaba con sus voces desde las gradas al fondo de la sala. Provocación, belleza y tensión combinadas en el único momento...

Bachtrack
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Eng ORG

Jihoon Kim is shining proof that the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Programme develops singers into complete artists — a rich, resonant bass with real individuality and stage presence.

Opera today
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the dark-chocolate richness of Jihoon Kim’s bass as Don Basilio, oozing through every pore the slightly disreputable and oleaginous reputation he has already garnered.

Opera today
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...connoisseurs of Colline’s ‘coat’ aria should take note: I’ve rarely heard it more rapturously sung than it is here by Jihoon Kim. If there’s such a thing as a lyric bass, he’s it.
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WhatsOnStageSeen and Heard
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Jihoon Kim as the honourable and implacable Silva was perhaps the best of the quartet of principals
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Seen and Heard
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El bajo Jihoon Kim fue un gran Viejo Hebreo consiguiendo con una voz verdaderamente atronadora la suavidad y religiosidad que su gran aria “Ils nous frappait dans sa colère” pide, y a pesar de la incongruencia de vestirlo como un bonzo que se va a autoinmolar y que al final no lo hace…fue uno de los momentos con más fuerza de la producción.

Bass Jihoon Kim was an outstanding Old Hebrew, achieving with a truly thunderous voice the softness and spirituality demanded by his great aria ‘Ils nous frappait dans sa colère’. And despite the incongruity of dressing him as a bonze about to self-immolate — only for him not to do so in the end — his scene was one of the most powerful moments of the entire production.

Opera World
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Eng ORG

Ji Hoon Kim’s young and handsome Sarastro hits all those low notes with real heft and has a stunningly even sound through his range

Plays To See

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I particularly enjoyed Jihoon Kim as Robert. The ROH is right to place such confidence in him and to nurture a performer of such accomplishment and real individuality. His rolling, dark bass surely has a bright future”. Watching the HD broadcast of that production, I noticed how often Director Stefan Herheim used Kim at many critical points in the drama, far more often than the actual singing part required. Kim appeared many times in close-ups because he has presence, even when he was not singing.

Opera today
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•

Jihoon Kim is shining proof that the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Programme develops singers into complete artists — a rich, resonant bass with real individuality and stage presence.

Opera today
‍

•

Edinburgh Music Review
‍

•

Bachtrack
‍

•

Eng ORG

the dark-chocolate richness of Jihoon Kim’s bass as Don Basilio, oozing through every pore the slightly disreputable and oleaginous reputation he has already garnered.

Opera today
‍

•

Opera World
‍

•

Eng ORG

Jihoon Kim as the honourable and implacable Silva was perhaps the best of the quartet of principals
‍

Seen and Heard
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•

...connoisseurs of Colline’s ‘coat’ aria should take note: I’ve rarely heard it more rapturously sung than it is here by Jihoon Kim. If there’s such a thing as a lyric bass, he’s it.
‍

WhatsOnStage

•

Jihoon Kim’s young and handsome Sarastro hits all those low notes with real heft and has a stunningly even sound through his range

Plays To See

•

Opera today
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•

Jihoon Kim

“Jihoon Kim — a rich, resonant bass with real individuality and stage presence.”

“Jihoon Kim — a rich, resonant bass with real individuality and stage presence.”

Biography

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