Eun-Hee Kim, a native of South Korea, is quickly making a name for herself as an up-and-coming soprano. She made her professional operatic debut with Cleveland Opera as Liù in its 2006 production of Turandot. Other operatic roles include Antonia (Les contes d’Hoffmann) and Romilda (Serse) with the Maryland Opera Studio, the leading role of Suor Angelica at the Intermezzo Young Artist Program, and Micaela (Carmen), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Mimi (La bohème) at the Manhattan School of Music. She has performed in art song recitals and concerts with orchestras throughout the United States and won public recognition through the Cleveland Art Song Festival.
Kim is the third-place winner and a Certified Singer of the 2006 Classical Singer’s AudComps Professional Division. Her other awards include the first prize and the Audience Choice Award at the 2006 Annapolis Opera Annual Vocal Competition, first prize at the 2005 Belle Voci National Competition, first prize at the 2004 Marie E. Crump Vocal Arts Competition, and the Washington District competition in the 2002-2003 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Kim earned her master’s degree and professional studies diploma at the Manhattan School of Music, and recently earned her doctorate in music at the University of Maryland.
What were some influential experiences in your youth that led you to a career in music?
I started playing the piano at age 5 because of my mom. In fact, I was good at it and tried to be a pianist, until I joined a children’s choir. I found singing was much more enjoyable than playing the piano, and I thought that singing would be easier than sitting on the bench for eight hours to practice the piano. Honestly, I was wrong. Singing was hard! But singing is my life and I don’t want to change it.
What are your goals for the next 10 years?
In the next 10 years, I want to be a memorable Madama Butterfly.
What has been your career highlight so far?
My professional operatic debut with Cleveland Opera as Liù in Turandot. It was the most valuable experience of my life and I’ll never forget the lessons I learned from it.
Who are some of your role models?
My parents, who taught consistency and patience; my Korean teacher, who is a model of balance between family and career; and Professor Mabbs, my current teacher, who encourages me to push myself.
If you could sing any one role, what would it be?
Madama Butterfly. That was the first opera I ever saw, and since then I have dreamed about being that powerful character.
How do you handle rejection?
When my teacher and coach encourage me and remind me how good a singer I am, that makes it easier. Thanks Linda and Tom! Besides, shopping helps to forget.
What has happened in your career that made you feel like you’ve “made it”?
When I stand and see the excited audiences at the end of a performance, or when someone says that they were crying because of my singing, then I feel like I’ve made it.
Opera News says Maija Lisa Currie has a “luxurious voice, nimble and subtle.” The soprano has performed Manon, Violetta, Susanna, Blondchen, Papagena, and Gretel. Upcoming engagements include Pamina with Hudson Opera Theater and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra. She has worked with companies in the States and abroad, including Opernhaus Zürich, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera, Mobile Opera, Zürcher Festspiele, Basel Sinfonietta, and Operette Sirnach. She appears on the recently released EMI Classics DVD of Der Rosenkavalier as die Erste Adelige Waisen.
Currie earned a bachelor’s in music and a performance diploma at Indiana University, and a master’s degree at the Peabody Conservatory. She also completed additional training at the Internationales Opernstudio of Opernhaus Zürich, Indianapolis Opera, the Music Academy of the West, the Brevard Music Center, and Opera in the Ozarks. She has studied voice with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, Virginia Zeani, and Phyllis Bryn-Julson; coached with Warren Jones and Thomas Grubb; and studied style and artistry with Marilyn Horne, Timothy Noble, Martina Arroyo, Reri Grist, and Graham Johnson.
Currie has also had widespread dance training in ballroom, latin, ballet, tap, and jazz. She speaks Spanish and German, and has studied French and Italian.
What were some influential experiences in your youth that led you to a career in music?
I was chosen to play Dorothy in my 4th grade’s Wizard of Oz. Thinking this was the beginning of my rise to stardom as an actress, I was completely oblivious of the fact that the role included singing. When all was said and done, I thought the singing was the exciting part!
I had my first introduction to classical singing my freshman year at Indiana University, where my grad-student voice teacher convinced me I should audition for the music school. After four years at the Opera Factory (uh, cough, I mean, the Indiana University School of Music), I was pretty convinced this is what I wanted to do with my life.
What are your goals for the next five years? The next 10 years?
So many goals, so little time. Five-year goals (in no particular order): Pay off my credit card and get my savings, investment, and retirement accounts started. Marry a rich sugar daddy. (Just kidding. I’d settle for a husband who is sane, loves me, makes me laugh, reads books, doesn’t end his sentences with prepositions, and makes a respectable living.) Win at least one major international vocal competition. Sing major roles in at least five different regional and international houses.
Ten-year goals (again in no particular order): Buy a house with my sane but funny husband. Plant a garden, which will most likely become overrun by weeds. Have a few kids who will take care of me in my dotage. Take a French cooking class to learn how to better feed my possibly existent and now starving family. Read the “top 100 books of all time” as I continue traveling the world singing internationally.
How do you handle rejection?
Cursing helps. I like four-letter words. Stringing together curse words in new and creative ways and then announcing them loudly to the world at large in a very supported and projected voice like all my teachers taught me is also very satisfying.
What needs to happen in your career for you to feel that you’ve finally “made it”?
There are several different levels to “making it” for me. First, supporting myself from performing and music alone. Second, having a manager and being seriously considered by regional and major opera houses. Third, having my schedule fill up for several years into the future. Fourth, being a respected musician among the highest echelon of conductors and artistic directors. The icing would be getting some publicity-producing moments, like a cover on Classical Singer or Opera News, a review in the New York Times, an invitation to sing on a big artistic director’s retirement gala that is broadcast on PBS, appearing on Oprah, or singing on “Letterman” or “Leno.” That would definitely constitute “making it.”
