HGO appoints Kim as principal guest conductor
Eun Sun Kim
Houston Grand Opera has appointed Eun Sun Kim as principal guest conductor starting with the 2019–20 season.
The Korean conductor earned accolades for leading HGO’s performances of La Traviata last October. That season-opening production was also the first event in the makeshift HGO Resilience Theater in the George R. Brown Convention Center–as well as Kim’s North American debut.
“I’m thrilled to join HGO as principal guest conductor,” said Kim, in a statement released by the company. “Opera is by its very nature dramatic, but I’ll never forget my debut, conducting La traviata in the Houston convention center after the big flood last fall. Despite the extraordinary circumstances, it was impressive how HGO was able to create an environment where the orchestra and chorus and soloists were able to still perform at the highest level.”
“Eun Sun Kim seems to me a limitless talent at the outset of an important career,” said HGO artistic and music director Patrick Summers. “Her music-making is elegant, effortless, precise, and deep…. I am excited to welcome her fresh ear and new musical ideas, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with her.”
Kim will conduct at least one opera per season, beginning with Strauss’s Salome. Her contract in this new position will run through 2024.
She is the first person to hold this position with HGO since 1993, when Vjekoslav Šutej completed two seasons in the role.
Houston Grand Opera opens its 2018-19 season with Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman October 19. hgo.org
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