Haeran HONG 홍혜란, Soprano

Korean soprano Haeran Hong was the Grand Prize winner of the 2011 Queen Elisabeth Competition, with her immaculate singing and enchanting presence. She joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera immediately after graduating from The Juilliard School, singing the First Flower Maiden in François Girard’s sensational new production of Parsifal under Daniele Gatti, the Forest Bird in Robert Lepage’s Ring production under Fabio Luisi, and roles in Macbeth and Die Frau ohne Schatten. She has covered an impressive list of roles at the Met, including Oscar in Un Ballo in maschera, Nannetta in Falstaff, Sophie in Werther, Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffman. Her ravishing, pure soprano, swooning musicality, and phenomenal skill as an actress have been much remarked upon.

 

In recent seasons Ms. Hong sang the title role of Händel’s Semele with Pacific Musicworks in Seattle, the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera in Williamsburg, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at Princeton Festival, and Barbarina and Seleuce in Händel’s Tolomeo at the Glimmerglass Festival, here she was a member of the Young American Artists program. At Juilliard Opera she performed Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea under Harry Bicket, Dalinda in Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Händel’s Ariodante, and again the Figaro Susanna and Soeur Constance. Ms. Hong has also sung Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.

Concert engagements include Händel’s Messiah with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, a concert of Händel music with Harry Bicket and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bach’s Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan and Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder Walzer with the La Jolla Summer Fest, Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with the Aspen Music Festival, concerts with the Wien Strauss Festival Orchestra in Korea; plus Rutter’s Mass of the Children and excerpts from Messiah with MidAmerica Productions at Carnegie Hall in New York.

 

Recent international engagements include her début with the International Festival Echternach in Luxembourg, performing with the Orchestre Phiharmonique du Luxembourg, Queen Paola Foundation’s annual Christmas concert in Belgium, and a series of recitals in Brazil, including at the Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro and the Teatro Cultura Artistica in São Paulo.

 

In addition to her Queen Elisabeth win, Ms. Hong has been a finalist in Plácido Domingo’s Operalia, and one of ten national finalists in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Korea’s National University of Arts, as well as a Master of Music Degree and Artistic Diploma in Opera Studies from The Juilliard School, where she studied voice with Edith Bers and acting with Stephen Wadsworth.

 

Representation: Korea, Europe