Sumi Jo (real name 조수미, born 22 November 1962 in Changwon, South Korea) is a lyric coloratura soprano whose career began under the rigorous guidance of her mother, an amateur singer who enrolled her in piano at four and voice at six. Sumi Jo’s formal education progressed through the Sun Hwa Arts School and Seoul National University, where she debuted professionally as Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Seoul Opera; she then moved to Rome in 1983 to study at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia, earning dual degrees in keyboard and voice by 1985 and beginning her international competition victories, including first prize in the 1986 Carlo Alberto Cappelli International Competition. Her European operatic debut followed in the same year as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, attracting the attention of Herbert von Karajan who cast her as Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at the 1989 Salzburg Festival and recorded the opera for Deutsche Grammophon; she also made La Scala debuts (Thetis in Jommelli's Fetonte), Bavarian State Opera, and a 1989 Metropolitan Opera entry as Gilda, roles she would reprise over fifteen years. The 1990s saw Sumi Jo’s expansion into the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute at Chicago Lyric Opera and her debut at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden as Olympia in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, later recording R. Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos with Kent Nagano. Her discography grew with Live at Carnegie Hall (1998), The Christmas Album (2000), and Baroque Journey (2007), among more than forty releases, including Virtuoso Arias (1994) and Missing You (2008). Sumi Jo earned a Grammy Award for her bel canto interpretations, notably on "Viola" and "Fur Elise" recordings, and received the first‑class Geumgwan Order of Cultural Merit in 2023 for promoting Korean culture. She contributed the theme "The Champions" to the 2002 FIFA World Cup broadcast, provided the singing voice for Veda Pierce in HBO’s Mildred Pierce (2011), and performed a duet with Sohyang, "Here as One", at the 2018 Winter Paralympic opening ceremony. In 2015 her rendition of "Simple Song Number 3" was nominated for an Academy Award, though the performance was not broadcast. Sumi Jo’s commitment to animal rights earned her a spot on PETA Asia‑Pacific’s Best‑Dressed list in 2008, and she was appointed visiting distinguished professor at KAIST’s Graduate School of Culture Technology in 2021. Her latest works include Maestra (2023) and the 2026 CONTINUUM – 40th Anniversary Special Album, cementing her legacy as a prominent Korean soprano on the world stage.
