Young Woo Kim

Korean tenor Young Woo Kim began studying singing at Chugye University for the Arts on a scholarship. Since then, he has won several international awards, including the Irene Sandford Competition Award from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. From 2016 to 2018, he was a member of the International Opera Studio at Cologne Opera, during which time he appeared as Toniolo in Gassmann's Gli uccellatori (The Bird Catchers), Der Jüngling in Schreker's Die Gezeichneten (The Stigmatised) and Gastone in La Traviata. He also sang the role of the Second Young Officer in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten. In 2017, Opernwelt magazine named him a promising talent to watch.

At the start of the 2018/19 season, he joined the permanent ensemble of the Cologne Opera. Since then, his roles at the Cologne Opera have included Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff, Hoffmann in The Tales of Hoffmann for Children, Daniel Buchanan in Kurt Weill's Street Scene, Mambre in Rossini's Mosè in Egitto, Sou-Chong in The Land of Smiles (concert performance), A Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde, Don José in Carmen, the title role in Gounod's Faust, 1st Armoured Man in The Magic Flute, Siegmund in Die Walküre for Young and Old, and Hoffegut in Die Vögel. In December 2021, he was awarded the Offenbach Prize by the Friends of Cologne Opera Association for his outstanding artistic achievements. In April 2022, he also appeared as Siegmund in ‘Die Walküre für Jung und Alt’ as part of the Cologne Opera's guest performance in South Korea.

Most recently, since 2022, he has sung the tenor part in Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Dortmund, Erik in ‘The Flying Dutchman’ at the Cologne Opera and on the Felsenbühne Sachsen, Radames in “Aida” at the Bielefeld Theatre, Bacchus in ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ at the Garsington Opera Festival, Cavaradossi in ‘Tosca’ at the Hamburg State Opera, Cologne Opera, Sydney Opera House and Melbourne, and in 2024 at Opera North in England, Don José in “Carmen” at the Hanover State Opera and the title role in ‘Faust’ at Cologne Opera.

In 2024.25, he sang Radames in Aida at the Frankfurt Opera and Ismaele in Nabucco and Don José in Carmen at the Cologne Opera. He appeared as Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, as the Prince in L'amour des trois oranges at the Korea National Opera, and as Don José in Carmen at the Sydney Opera House. He was also nominated as a young singer at the 2024 International Opera Awards.

In the 2025.26 season, he will appear as Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, Ernani in Ernani and Calaf in Turandot at the Cologne Opera. He will also sing the role of Calaf at the Sydney Opera House and Seoul Art Centre, as well as Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Hamburg Opera. Furthermore, he will be heard as Siegfried in Götterdämmerung at the Elbphilharmonie, Cologne Philharmonic, Paris Philharmonic and at the Dresden Music Festival.