Sunhae Im

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Sunhae Im was born in Cheorwon, South Korea. She studied vocal music with Lokyung Pak at Seoul National University in South Korea and with Roland Hermann at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe in Germany. In 1997 she was awarded the Grand Prix in the Korea Schubert Society–Munhwa Ilbo Competition (Seoul), the Grand Prix in the Korean Voice Competition (Seoul), the Second Prize in the Dong-A Music Competition (Seoul), and the Second Prize and the Audience Prize in the International Schubert Competition (Osaka, Tokyo). In 2000, she was a finalist in the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Brussels).

She made her European debut with the conductor Philippe Herreweghe in Antwerp, Belgium in December 1999, by singing Mozart's "Et Incarnatus Est" from Great Mass in C Minor as well as his solo motet Exsultate Jubilate. Her operatic debut was made in early 2000 as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart at the Frankfurt Opera, where she also performed as Amore and Valetto in The Coronation of Poppea by Monteverdi. She was a member of Staatsoper Hannover and performed as Zerlina (in Don Giovanni), Papagena (The Magic Flute), Blonde (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and Yniold (Pelleas et Mélisande) between 2001 and 2004, before freelancing.

Sunhae Im is known especially for historically-informed performance of operas and oratorios from the Baroque and Classical eras. She is asked most frequently to perform works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart. Her compilation album Portrait (2017) consists of pieces by those four composers. Many examples of her work in early music are found from the collaboration with René Jacobs, a master conductor of early music. She joined Jacobs in recording both passions by Bach, five operas by Mozart, two operas by Handel, and one opera by Haydn, as well as performing in numerous live concerts and operas. Jacobs wrote in his autobiography, "some of them, such as Stéphane Degout and Sunhae Im, were among the best actor-singers I know." She also interpreted lesser known works by composers including Terradellas, Soler, Gassmann, and Conti.

In addition to Baroque and Classical music, her repertoire includes Renaissance (such as works by Byrd), Bel canto (Rossini and Donizetti), Romantic (Mendelssohn, Schumann, Fauré, and Mahler), and modern classical music (Poulenc and Schulhoff). For example with the conductor Manfred Honeck, she performed Mahler's Symphony No. 2 and No. 4, Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites (as Sister Constance), Bach's St John Passion, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (as Susanna), Idomeneo (as Illia), and Requiem (at Carnegie Hall, Musikverein, and Berliner Philharmonie). She also performs nonclassical music occasionally. She appeared as Christine Daaé of Maury Yeston's musical Phantom in its 2015 South Korean premiere and 2019 & 2021 revival.

She has worked with conductors including René Jacobs, Manfred Honeck, Fabio Biondi, William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Sigiswald Kuijken, Andreas Spering, Iván Fischer, Zubin Mehta, Myung-whun Chung, Ton Koopman, Giovanni Antonini, Herbert Blomstedt, Kent Nagano, and Riccardo Chailly. She has worked with groups including the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

In 2009, Sunhae Im was the soprano soloist for the Pentecost solemn mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, where she performed Haydn's Harmoniemesse with Helmut Müller-Brühl. In 2014, she sang the national anthem of South Korea for the closing ceremony of the 2014 Asian Games. She performed in various national and social events such as the concert for 2017 South Korea-China Summit in Beijing, 2019 Human Rights Day Ceremony in Seoul, and 2020 Korea Memorial Day Ceremony in Daejeon. She recorded a sound track "Will Be Back" for the Seoul Broadcasting System drama Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo in 2016. She performed in five episodes of the TV program The Master broadcast by Mnet TV in South Korea in 2017. She has sometimes assumed the role of broadcasting host (rather than singer) for TV and radio programs. She often volunteers to sing at benefit concerts, including the Hopeshare Concert series that she has been organizing since 2009.

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