Joo Cho

Last update: before 2019
JOO CHO, soprano The South Korean soprano Joo Cho graduated with a degree in singing from Chung-Ang University in Seoul. She then went on to complete two degrees summa cum laude in Singing and Vocal Chamber Music at the “Verdi” Conservatoire in Milan (Italy). She continued her studies with artists such as Peter Schreier, Jaume Aragall and Ernesto Palacio. She won many Singing Competitions such as the “Giulio Neri” International Singing Competition in Torrita di Siena and the “Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist Competition” (UK). She sang leading roles in several productions at the Opera House in Seoul including: Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi), Le nozze di Figaro (Contessa), La Traviata (Violetta), Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), La Bohème (Musetta), Der Freischütz (Agathe), Un ballo in maschera (Oscar). In Austria she participated in the Tiroler Festspiele Erl in Der Ring des Nibelungen (Woglinde) and Parsifal (Erste Blumenmädchen), under Gustav Kuhn. Parsifal is now available in CD and DVD (Col Legno). In Italy Cho recently performed the role of Maria in I due Timidi by Nino Rota at the Teatro Sociale in Rovigo: she also recorded it on CD for the Bongiovanni label. Joo Cho also has a very active concert career in oratorio and sacred music. She has sung Elias by Mendelssohn, Betulia liberata by Mozart , Stabat Mater and Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, Les Illuminations by Britten, Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Mahler, Chants d'Auvergne by Canteloube, Mirjams Siegesgesang by Schubert (under Romano Gandolfi), Mahler's 4th Symphony (under John Anderson), Beethoven's Mass in C and Schubert's Mass in G (under Christopher Fifield), Mozart's Requiem (Milan Cathedral, under Donato Renzetti). In 2013 for the anniversary of the birth of Verdi she performed Messa da Requiem in the Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome (under Carlo Frajese). Joo Cho is very interested in Lied repertoire and she has sung Lied Concerts worldwide in venues such as: Palacio Marqués de Salamanca in Madrid (Spain), Großer Saal der Musikhochschule in Lübeck (Germany), Salle Cortot in Paris, Musée Würth in Strasbourg and Musée Debussy in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France), Mozarteum Wiener Saal in Salzburg (Austria), Sala della Musica in Lugano (Switzerland), Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon (UK), Salone del Conservatorio in Turin, Auditorium Casa della Musica in Parma, Teatro San Carlo in Modena and Festival MITO in Milan (Italy). She recently recorded a CD with Schubert Lieder for label Classica Viva, and she has recorded several videos for Limen, a web tv especially devoted to chamber music. Joo Cho has also been noted for her ability to sing twentieth century and contemporary music. Her repertoire includes many world premieres such as Nel tuo silenzio by Giacomo Manzoni (Milano, 2010), Sette by Niccolò Castiglioni, for soprano and orchestra (Erl, 2005, under Tito Ceccherini) and Milano 2005 by Gustav Kuhn, for soprano, violin and orchestra (Sala Verdi, Milan Conservatoire, with Salvatore Accardo violin, conducted by the composer himself). In 2012 she performed Il rumore del tempo by Giacomo Manzoni in Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional with PluralEnsemble and in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall for “Pollini perspectives” with members of Ensemble Intercontemporain.