PRSO to accompany star Sumi Jo in Český Krumlov
As has become traditional, and in keeping with its status as orchestra in residence, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra (PRSO) will accompany a world famous opera singer at the opening of the Český Krumlov International Music Festival. This year the audience can look forward to the Korean coloratura soprano Sumi Jo. Appearing alongside her will be Italian tenor Danilo Formaggia from Milan’s La Scala and conductor Petr Vronský. Let’s hope favourable weather conditions will prevail on Friday 17 July – the concert is taking place outdoors at the Brewery Garden.
The organisers provide the following information about the star on their website: Sumi Jo’s career took off incredibly quickly and she soon found herself at leading world opera and concert venues. Her performance in the role of Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto in 1986 caught the attention of conducting legend Herbert von Karajan, who immediately cast her in Verdi’s opera A Masked Ball alongside legendary tenor Placido Domingo. This happened during the Salzburg Festival in 1987.
Since then she has guested at the most prestigious opera venues, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Court in London’s Covent Garden, where she debuted as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman and soon afterwards appeared in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and Mozart’s The Queen of the Night. One success led to another and her triumphs naturally caught the attention of the owners of the most prestigious recording studios. Her broad, lyrically soft sounding Bel canto repertoire also earned her a Grammy award. She guests around the globe in all the important metropolises with the world’s best orchestras alongside outstanding opera stars and under the baton of renowned conductors. These include James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano and Sir Georg Solti.
In related news, the PRSO was also meant to perform at other concerts at the Český Krumlov IMF. However, for financial reasons the festival has been forced to make some changes and reduce its number of programmes. This year’s 24th edition will therefore come to a close on 8 August.
