SUNHAE IM, SOPRANO
Called “a splendidly bright soprano” (The New York Times) and “one of the great singers of our time” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), the Korean soprano Sunhae Im has demonstrated versatile musicality and deep dramaturgical understanding. She achieved great success in early music repertoire with conductors such as René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Fabio Biondi, Ton Koopman, and Diego Fasolis, with ensembles such as Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Europa Galante, and Akademie für alte Musik Berlin. She was also acclaimed for later repertoire with Manfred Honeck, Iván Fischer, Myung-Whun Chung, Kent Nagano, and Zubin Mehta, at the Verbier Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. She enjoys innovative projects including The Creation by La Fura dels Baus and La Finta Giardiniera in La Scala’s Shanghai tour.
Her recent projects include Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and René Jacobs for the Innsbruck Festival), Mozart’s concert arias (with Yunchan Lim, Suzuki Masato, and Camerata Salzburg), Mozart’s Requiem (with Korean National Chorus), concerts at Marvão International Music Festival, concerts at the Gdańsk International Mozart Festival, concerts with Ramón Vargas in Korea, the world premiere of Ben Roessler’s opera The Third War (produced by Bonn Park and performed in Seoul), and Haydn’s The Creation (with Orchestre National Auvergne–Rhône‑Alpes and Thomas Zehetmair). In the 2026/2027 season, she will undertake a Seoul-Europe tour of the opera The Third War, perform and record Bach’s Cantata 51 with Berliner Barock Solisten & Andrew Balio (trumpet), and perform in a European tour of Salieri’s Falstaff conducted by René Jacobs.
Sunhae Im has made more than 40 recordings and has received numerous awards. Her solo album Orfeo[s] was awarded the Elly Ameling Prize by Académie du Disque Lyrique, and her CD Didone Abbandonata was nominated in three categories for Opus Klassik. She recorded five Mozart Operas with René Jacobs (La Clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, La Finta Giardiniera, Die Zauberflöte), Handel’s operas (Siroe, Agrippina, Orlando, Silla), Bach’s religious music (St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio), Haydn’s secular and religious pieces (Esterhazy Cantatas, Harmonie Mass, The Creation, Orlando Paladino, L’isola disabitata), Gluck’s Orfeo directed by Pina Bausch at the Opéra National de Paris, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. She has also achieved recognition as a lied singer. Her first art songs recording Erwin Schulhoff: Sämtliche Lieder (Complete Lieder) was released in 2020. It was a hit with critics and received prizes such as La Clef by ResMusica and Quarterly Choice of the German Record Critics’ Award 2021. Her new CD of art songs by Erich J. Wolff will be released soon.
She served as a jury member for the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Voice-Piano Competition in Paris in 2025. In 2026, she was a jury member for UNISA Music Foundation 7th International Voice Competition in Pretoria, South Africa. She has also hosted numerous television programs such as Ombra Mai Fu on Hankyung Arte TV for three seasons (2022-2024), during which she interviewed many Korean and international musicians. She also hosted all seven episodes of Sunyul (Melodies) on CPBC (Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation) TV.
Born in Korea, Sunhae Im studied with Lokyung Pak at Seoul National University and continued her studies with Roland Hermann at Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe as a DAAD scholarship recipient.