Eun Sun Kim
Boston Symphony Orchestra - Rachmaninov 3
Kim makes impressive BSO debut in varied works of wartime.
Kim's early insistence on the dynamic diversity of the program paid off here in her excellent management of Rachmaninoff's music, which begins early in the first movement and continues throughout the symphony. Her careful reading of the dynamics kept the piece just on the edge of overwhelming and held audience interest throughout the 40-minute symphony.
Boston Classical Review (March 07, 2025)Opera Now (June 20, 2025)Season 2026/2027
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
Opera in the Park
Sep 13
Verdi – Simon Boccanegra
Sep 12/16/19/22/25/27
Massenet - Manon
Oct 15/18/21/24/27/30, Nov 1
Strauss in Concert
Strauss – Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Strauss – Six Songs (Brentano Songs), Op. 68
Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Op. 59 (arr. Philippe Jordan and Tomáš Ille)
Nov 6
OPÉRA NATIONAL DE PARIS
Puccini – Turandot
Nov 27/30, Dec 3/6/9/12/15/18/21/24/27
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BERLIN STATE OPERA
Puccini – Tosca
Jan 8/15/20/24/30, Feb 5ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE FRANCE
Mendelssohn – The Hebrides Overture
Vieuxtemps – Violin Concerto No. 5
Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 2 “Lobgesang”
Jan 14BBC Philharmonic
Beethoven – Egmont Overture
Haydn – Cello Concerto in C major
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 5
Feb 12 (Hanley)C. Shaw – Entr'acte
Haydn – Cello Concerto in C major
Beethoven – Symphony No. 5
Feb 13 (Manchester)ORCHESTRA SINFÓNICA DE MADRID
Dvořák – Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 with Truls Mørk
Brahms / Schoenberg – Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
Feb 19/20/21GOTHENBURG'S SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Strauss – Serenade for Winds
Grime – Horn Concerto
Korngold – Symphony
Feb 25/26PHILHARMONISCHES STAATSORCHESTER HAMBURG
Strauss – Serenade for Wind Instruments
Glass – Saxophone Quartet Concerto
Dvořák – Symphony No. 8
March 21/22ORCHESTRE NATIONAL DE LYON
Webern – In the summer breeze
Berg – Seven Early Songs with Anja Kampe
Brahms / Schoenberg – Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25
March 25/26COLORADO SYMPHONY
Boulanger – Marche gaie
Poulenc – Gloria
Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14
Apr 16/17/18INDIANAPOLIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Sibelius – The Swan of Tuonela
Sibelius – Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6
Apr 22/23SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
Wagner – Das Rheingold
May 29, June 3/6/11/16/19/22
Pride Concert
June 25
Biography
Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim is the Caroline H. Hume Music Director of San Francisco Opera, a position she has held since 2021. The 2025/26 season underscores Kim’s global recognition and continued success with a number of prestigious debuts, including with the Dresden Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
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At San Francisco Opera this season, she continues her long-term exploration of the works of Verdi and Wagner with productions of Rigoletto and Parsifal. During the summer season of 2026, she will return to SFO to present Elektra.
For her international operatic engagements, Kim will once again head to the Teatro Real in Madrid for Carmen, the Bavarian State Opera for Madama Butterfly, and the Berlin State Opera for Ariadne auf Naxos.
Displaying her versatility for a broad range of classical repertoire, she will give a series of orchestral concerts featuring works by composers from Beethoven to Stravinsky. In 2026, she will join the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra along with her upcoming debut venues.Kim’s career has already featured several notable orchestral engagements that she continues to build upon, including Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Philharmonia, Los Angeles and New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Boston Symphony.
Additionally, she continues to be active with Barcelona Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Detroit Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Her collaboration with the National Brass Ensemble—featuring a new arrangement of Wagner’s Ring cycle—was released by Pentatone on the album Deified.
Kim appears regularly at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, the Berlin State Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. On the heels of Kim’s Met debut in 2021, noted for an “assured technical command, subtlety and imagination,” The New York Times recognized her as Classical Music’s Breakout Star.
Since 2021, Kim's tenure at the San Francisco Opera has given the house a new vision for its second century as a center of creative development and artistic direction. She has been involved in outstanding productions including Un ballo in maschera, Tristan und Isolde, Idomeneo, Il trovatore, Lohengrin, Dialogues des Carmélites, La traviata, Fidelio, Die Zauberflöte, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra. Her prominent position in the North American opera scene has also been underscored by acclaimed appearances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Los Angeles Opera, the Washington National Opera and the Houston Grand Opera, and extended beyond the theater with the release of the full-length documentary Eun Sun Kim: A Journey into Lohengrin by the San Francisco Opera in fall 2024, which was nominated for two Northern California Emmy Awards.
Outside of San Francisco, Kim maintains an active career in Europe, where she recently performed La Bohème at both La Scala and the Vienna State Opera, Les contes d'Hoffmann at the Opéra national de Paris , a staged Requiem by Verdi at the Dutch National Opera, Carmen at the Zurich Opera and Hansel and Gretel at the Bavarian State Opera. She has also performed frequently at the Berlin State Opera, the Oper Frankfurt , the Royal Swedish Opera and the Royal Danish Opera, with a varied repertoire ranging from Ariadne auf Naxos , Il barbiere di Siviglia , La bohème , Die Csárdásfürstin , The Count of Luxembourg , The Flying Dutchman and Madama Butterfly to Un ballo in maschera , La sonnambula , La traviata and Il trovatore .
Eun Sun Kim studied composition and conducting in her hometown of Seoul (South Korea) before continuing her studies in Stuttgart. Immediately after graduating, she won first prize at the International Jesús López Cobos Opera Conducting Competition at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
2025/26
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