By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
The English National Opera will feature a Korean singer in a title role early next year, marking the first time for Britain's leading opera company to cast an Asian as a lead part.
Tenor Kim Jae-woo will take the stage as Edgardo in the English National Opera's rendition of Donizetti's ``Lucia di Lammermoor,'' Yonhap News reported Thursday.
The bel canto opera will be staged eight times throughout February 2010. Kim, who will share the part with tenor Barry Banks, will appear perform on Feb. 18, 20, 23 and 26.
One of the two leading opera companies in the United Kingdom, the English National Opera boasts a history of 100 years and a tough audition process. There have been Asian singers in supporting roles in the past but never before in a title role.
``Taking the stage of the English National Opera means that all the musicians in Britain will come and hear me. I can feel the weight on my shoulders but I am preparing for the piece the best I can in order to break stereotypes about Asian singers,'' Kim was quoted as saying by a local daily.
Kim was born in Korea and attended Seoul Arts High School. His talents were noticed by the director of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and he moved to Australia in 1993.
He studied there on a scholarship and went on to win various awards including the Opera Foundation's Metropolitan Opera Awards. He joined Opera Australia's Young Artists' Development Program in 1998 and became a principal artist for the company in 2000. The same year he received an honorable mention from Korea's prime minister for representing his country in Australia.
In 2007 the tenor relocated to the U.K. but found it difficult to make inroads into the opera scene, Kim was quoted as saying in an interview with the local press. He failed, despite his perfect command of the English language, the English National Opera's auditions due to his ``strange Asian intonation.'' He thus set out to practice again by hiring a diction tutor.
But in 2008 he was cast in a lead role in the Dublin Lyric Opera's production of ``The Magic Flute.'' He auditioned for a second time with the English National Opera a few months ago and was finally cast in the company's first production of 2010.