Kwangchul Youn
Hamburg State Opera - Parsifal
Youn's attractive, powerful bass voice was used for a sympathetic portrayal of the king, conveying Marke's feelings of shame resulting from the love affair between his bride-to-be and his most trusted knight .
seenandheard.com (April 28, 2025)Season 25/26 and Highlights
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
Wagner - Parsifal - Gurnemanz
PREMIERE Oct 25
Oct 28, Nov 2/7/13
SANTA CECILIA IN HONG KONG
Wagner - Walküre - Act 1 Walküre concert version - Hunding
Nov 21
FESTSPIELHAUS BADEN-BADEN
Wagner - Lohengrin - König Heinrich
PREMIERE March 28
March 31, April 5
-
VIENNA STATE OPERA
Verdi - Simone Boccanegra - Fiesco
Apr 16/19/21/24
LOS ANGELES OPERA
Mozart - Magic Flute - Sarastro
PREMIERE May 30
June 6/11/14/17/21
ORCHESTRA PHILHARMONIQUE DE RADIO FRANCE
Wagner - Tristan and Isolde - Marke
July 11 (Montpellier)
Biography
In the 2024/25 season, Kwangchul Youn was king Marke ( Tristan und Isolde ) at the San Francisco Opera. At the Opéra de Paris, he sang Fasolt in a new production of Das Rheingold . He returned to the Vienna State Opera as Fafner and Hunding in The Ring of the Nibelung . At the Hamburg State Opera, he performed Gurnemanz in Parsifal —one of his most outstanding roles.
-
In recent years, the sought-after bass has performed at almost all renowned opera houses in Europe and the USA, including Vienna, London, Berlin, Milan, Munich, Dresden, Paris, Barcelona, Turin, New York, Chicago, and Houston. He has also performed at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, the Salzburg Easter Festival, and the Tongyeong Festival. Highlights of past seasons have included Gurnemanz and König Heinrich in new productions at the Opéra de Paris, Gurnemanz at the Vienna State Opera, Comte des Grieux ( Manon ) at the Met, Abimélech at the Berlin State Opera in a new production of Samson et Dalila under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, Ramfis ( Aida ) at the Liceu Barcelona, Daland in a new production of The Flying Dutchman , and the Landgrave ( Tannhäuser ) at the Hamburg State Opera. He is also an internationally sought-after interpreter of Sarastro, most recently at the San Francisco Opera.
From 1993 to 2004, Kwangchul Youn was a member of the Berlin State Opera ensemble, where he performed many roles from his wide-ranging repertoire. In 2018, he was awarded the honorary title of "Kammersänger" (Chamber Singer). Wagner and Verdi form the core of his repertoire, including Gurnemanz, König Heinrich , Marke , Daland and Pogner as well as Rocco, Filippo, Fiesco, Ferrando, Banco and Ramfis.
In addition to his extensive operatic work, Kwangchul Youn is a sought-after concert singer. He has made guest appearances with major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Orchestra of the Milan Scala, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Köln, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the RAI Turin, and at the BBC Proms. He opened the 2019/20 season with Kirill Petrenko's inaugural concert as the new chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic with Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
Numerous CD productions document his long career. These include Hasse's Croesus under René Jacobs (harmonia mundi), Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni under Bertrand de Billy (Arte Nova), Fidelio and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg from the Bayreuth Festival under Daniel Barenboim (Warner Classics), Tiefland again under Bertrand de Billy (Arte Nova) and Daphne under Semyon Bychkov (Decca).
2025/26
—
Any changes or reductions must be approved by ARSIS Artist Management. Please do not use older material.
