Sunhae Im

Sunhae Im, a soprano whose core focus remains early music, has collaborated with prominent conductors in that domain such as Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, and Ton Koopman. Yet her discography ranges more broadly, encompassing works by Liszt and Mahler along with selections from the American popular-song repertoire.

Born on January 15, 1976, in Cheorwon-gun, South Korea, near the North Korean border, Im trained under Lokyung Pak at Seoul National University. A cluster of 1997 competition successes drew widespread notice across East Asia: she captured grand prizes at both the Korean Voice Competition and the Korean Schubert Society-Munhwa Ilbo Competition in Seoul, earned second prize at the Dong-A Music Competition in the same city, and secured second prize plus the audience award at the International Schubert Competition in Osaka, Japan. She continued her studies with Roland Hermann at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in Germany and reached the finals of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels in 2000. Professional engagements had already begun by then, including a 1999 Mozart concert under Herreweghe and the role of Barbarina in a Frankfurt Opera staging of Le nozze di Figaro. Additional performances followed in Frankfurt and at the Staatsoper Hannover, where she remained a company member for several seasons. Her first recording, the 2002 Harmonia Mundi release Haydn: Cantates pour les Esterházy, marked her debut on disc.

Im has performed regularly with leading period-instrument ensembles such as the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Her partnership with Jacobs has proved especially productive, yielding recordings of two Bach Passions and multiple Mozart operas. Her interests span from Renaissance repertoire to twentieth-century scores by Poulenc and Erwin Schulhoff; one highlight was her participation in a performance of Haydn’s Mass in B flat major, Hob. 22/14 (“Harmoniemesse”), at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome during a mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. Beyond Harmonia Mundi she has recorded for Coviello Classics, PentaTone, and Aparté. Popular repertoire also figures in her activities: she released the song collection The Man I Love and appeared in Korean productions of Maury Yeston’s musical Phantom. In 2023 she joined baritone Thomas Hampson for an Aparté album of Liszt orchestral songs.