Following “a company debut of astonishing vibrancy and assurance” in Rusalka, Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim was named the Caroline H. Hume Music Director of San Francisco Opera, beginning her tenure in 2021. She is a regular guest conductor at the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Berlin State Opera, and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Following her Met debut, noted for “assured technical command, subtlety, and imagination,” the New York Times recognized her as classical music’s breakout star.
In the 2023-24 season, Kim continued a series of high-profile debuts, conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. She also made her first appearances at the Paris Opera, leading Les Contes d’Hoffmann and the Maria Callas Centenary. At San Francisco Opera, she furthered her multi-season explorations of Verdi and Wagner with performances of Il Trovatore and Lohengrin, and led The Magic Flute, Opera Ball, and Opera in the Park. Elsewhere, she conducted Parsifal at Houston Grand Opera and additional concerts with the Colorado Symphony and Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona.
Kim’s major orchestral appearances include engagements with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Gothenburg Symphony, and Seoul Philharmonic. She has also conducted European orchestras in Bonn, Madrid, Malmö, Marseille, Milan, Lille, Nancy, Oslo, Palermo, Stuttgart, Turin, and Santiago de Compostela. In North America, her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic was quickly followed by engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The Business Courier hailed her as “impeccable … a dynamic presence, illuminating details of the score with clarity and expressive power.” Her collaboration with the National Brass Ensemble, including a new arrangement of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, has been released by Pentatone on the album "Deified."
Kim’s tenure at San Francisco Opera signals a new vision for its second century, with her on the podium for Dialogues of the Carmelites, La Traviata, Fidelio, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra. With a growing presence in North America, she has enjoyed operatic successes at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, where her debut earned her an appointment as the company’s first principal guest conductor in 25 years. The New York Times called her “a major star … with great sensitivity and flexibility.”
Kim maintains close connections in Europe, where she has recently conducted La Bohème at Teatro alla Scala and Vienna State Opera, a staged Verdi’s Requiem with Dutch National Opera, Carmen at Opernhaus Zürich, and Hänsel und Gretel at Bavarian State Opera. She has frequently appeared at the Berlin State Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Royal Swedish Opera, and Royal Danish Opera. Her celebrated repertoire includes Ariadne auf Naxos, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème, Die Csárdásfürstin, The Count of Luxembourg, Der Fliegende Holländer, Madama Butterfly, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Sonnambula, La Traviata, and Il Trovatore.
Kim studied composition and conducting in her hometown of Seoul, South Korea, before continuing her studies in Stuttgart, where she graduated with distinction. Immediately after graduation, she was awarded first prize in the International Jesús López Cobos Opera Conducting Competition at the Teatro Real in Madrid.
