Met's Hong declines to lead National Opera

By Kwon Ji-youn

Hong Hei-kyung speaks during a press conference at the Ilmin Museum of Art in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap

Soprano Hong Hei-kyung said Tuesday she will decline an offer to lead the Korea National Opera (KNO), for now.

“To be honest, I don’t really know how to lead an opera company, though I’m sure I’ll only be required to add my two cents to a framework that already exists,” she said at the Ilmin Museum of Art in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. She cited her current obligations as the main reasons she would not take the job.

Hong, 56, is a member of the Metropolitan Opera New York, and has been rumored to be one of the few candidates to fill the KNO’s directorship left vacant since Han Ye-jin stepped down in February.

“Leading the KNO is not something that I can do simply because I want to,” Hong said.

Hong is set to appear in “The Marriage of Figaro” with the Muak Opera at the Seoul Arts Center from May 8 to 10.

This particular Mozart opera is especially exhilarating for Hong, who will take on the role of Countess Rosina Almaviva.

“The role of Countess Rosina Almaviva is especially enjoyable,” she said. “There are so many different facets to this character. Rosina was of the middle class until she married Count Almaviva, so she understands the struggles of the people. She’s at once elegant, melancholy and full of life. Her emotions are complex, and at the same time, very much realistic.”

“The Marriage of Figaro” is a four-act opera composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and is now regarded as a cornerstone of the standard operatic repertoire.

According to the production’s director Paula Williams, it features characters with the same kinds of emotions people have today, even though it was written in 1790.

“Mozart had an amazing ability to use words and music to bring movements on stage to life,” Williams said. “We’re not watching people in a museum or people who lived 100 years ago, but those who have the same problems that we have right now.”

Williams said her focus will be to bring to life such words and music, and with such a remarkable cast line-up, she doesn’t foresee it being too difficult.

“It’s interesting to work with people who have imagination and inspiration,” she said. “And that’s what I enjoy doing with this cast. I try to spark the imagination and they can then create this world with me on the stage.”

Hong was the first Korean to win at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1982, and in 1984 made her Met debut as Servilia in Mozart’s opera “La Clemenza di Tito.”