Joohee Choi, soprano, just finished two seasons with Los Angeles Opera as a resident artist. She made her debut in 2004 as the Keeper of the Gates of the Temple in Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne. In various concerts and productions during the ‘04-‘05 season, she appeared as Mrs. Anderssen in A Little Night Music, Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, the Priestess in Aida, Frasquita in Carmen, and Mimi in La bohème. She recently performed Philip Glass’ Les enfants terribles with Oakland Opera as well as her favorite role, Pamina, with Summer Opera in Washington, D.C.
Last year, Ms. Choi performed as a soloist with the Angeles Chorale. She was featured as Violetta with Martinez Opera in December ‘06 and will sing as Frasquita in Carmen with Opera Pacific in February ‘07.
Ms. Choi has won many competitions including the Jersey District Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (1999), first place in the Loren Zachary Society National Vocal Competition in Los Angeles (1998), and third place in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Competition in New York City (1997). Ms. Choi was nominated for a Tony Award for “Best Featured Actress in a Musical” and was the winner of the Theater World Award for Best Debut Actress for her debut performance of Tuptim in Broadway’s award-winning revival of The King and I (1997).
What were some influential experiences in your youth that led you to a career in music?
My first opera was La traviata, and I decided to become a singer. I am singing now as Violetta, and I feel proud.
What are your goals for the next five years? The next 10 years?
I hope to have a good agent who believes in me so that I can have the opportunity to sing in beautiful theaters in the next five to 10 years. I also want to teach at Juilliard.
What has been your career highlight to this point?
When I sang Mimi in LA Opera for a student concert, they treated me as if I was a lead vocal singer in a famous rock band.
What is your favorite part about being an opera singer?
It is another way of expressing the beauty of the word. I feel like I am a poet.
Who are some of your role models, mentors, or influential people in your life?
My mom; she made me a singer. I was studying painting up to that point. She is beautiful, strong and generous—but most of all, she does not spend any money on herself.
If you could sing any one role, what would it be?
Salome—that role makes me stay in shape!
How do you handle rejection?
As a part of reality. I feel very upset and I torture myself, by eating, and shopping, and then cursing those who rejected me. Then I work hard to get revenge! Am I being too frank?
How do you balance career and family?
This year I was not home much because of singing engagements. I make sure that whenever I am away from home, I call them two to three times a day. And whenever I am home, I study even harder so they know how much I am serious about what I do.
What has happened in your career that made you feel like you’ve “made it”?
When a conductor I was working with said, “you saved the show!” I sang Les enfants terribles and everything went wrong. The conductor, pianists, and the other singer who sang with me all got terribly off—but I kept singing and sweating and singing and singing . . .
Joseph McClellan in the Washington Post wrote that bass-baritone Kwang Kyu Lee has, “[a] voice [that] seems ready for [a] significant operatic career [and] a vocal power that one associates with much more mature basses.” Mr. Lee is working toward his doctorate as an advanced candidate in voice performance at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Mr. Lee won the Grand Prize at the Annapolis Opera Competition, First Prize—along with the Audience Choice Award—in the Emerging Professional Division of the Classical Singer AudComps, Second Prize at the New Jersey State Opera International Vocal Competition and the William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition, and Third Prize at the Regional Winner of the Metropolitan Opera Competition, the Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition, and The Connecticut Opera Vocal Competition.
Mr. Lee’s major roles include Sarastro in The Magic Flute with the Summer Opera and the Maryland Opera Studio, Ferrando in Il trovatore with the Summer Opera Theatre Company, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Annapolis Opera, Betto in Gianni Schicchi with the Opera International, Colline in La bohème with Music Festival in St. Bartheleme, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore at the University of Maryland, Montano in Otello, and Sparafucile in Rigoletto with the Summer Opera in Washington, D.C.
He has also appeared as a bass soloist in several oratorios, masses, and other occasions, including Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Dvorak’s Stabat mater with the Fairfax Choral Society, Bach’s Magnificat with the University of Maryland Chorus, Cantata BWV 4 with The Bach Choral Society, Mozart’s Requiem with American University Choir, Rossini‘s Petite Messe Solennelle with the University of Maryland Chamber Choir, Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio with The Frederic Choral Society, and several recitals including Schumann’s Dichterliebe at the Art Club of Washington, D.C., and Schubert’s Winterreise.
What were some influential experiences in your youth that led you to a career in music?
I was a member of the chamber choir in high school. During those days, I was so happy to be singing with other people. I was absorbed in the music. Around that time, I was fortunate to attend a recital by a Metropolitan Opera singer, Young-ok Shin, and a recital by Hyun-Myong Oh, a famous Korean singer in Korea. After attending these recitals, I made up my mind about becoming a singer like them, [singers] who transferred the beauty of music to the audience.
What are your goals for the next five years? The next 10 years?
In the next five years, I want to study more operatic repertoire, improve my vocal technique, and sing at small theaters rather than major companies to learn more about staging. In the next 10 years, based on my experience, I want to be a part of a major company, and challenge myself amongst great singers.
What has been your career highlight to this point?
I sang Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Ferrando in Il trovatore at the Summer Opera. Both productions were great, and received great reviews in the Washington Post. They said, it was “better than Kennedy Center and Metropolitan Opera.” I enjoyed singing with the great musicians.
