Biography

Bass-baritone Samuel Youn received his first vocal training in his hometown Seoul, and then completed his studies at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan and at the Conservatory of Cologne. He started his singing career in 1999 at the Cologne Opera where he has established himself quickly as a leading dramatic bass baritone of his generation in roles like Amonasro/Aida, Tonio/Pagliacci, Kurwenal/Tristan, Gunter/Götterdämmerung, Kaspar/Freischütz, Pizzaro/Fidelio, and the title role in Wagner`s The Flying Dutchman. Apart from his commitment at the Cologne Opera, he has also been invited on many international stages, among which the Theatre du Capitole de Toulouse, Teatro Real de Madrid, Bayreuth Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra de Paris, Scala di Milano, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur, Teatro Sao Carlo in Lisbon, Teatro di San Carlo in Napoli and Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.
 
In 2012, Youn had his international breakthrough singing the title role in the The Flying Dutchman under the baton of Christian Thielemann at the Bayreuth Festival. He was invited back for the 2013 to 2015 editions of the Festival to perform this role.
He worked with conductors such as Marc Albrecht, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Andris Nelsons, Zubin Mehta, Donald Runnicles, Markus Stenz and Pinchas Steinberg, among others.
 
2015 had him return to the Bayreuth Festival and the Deutsche Oper Berlin for various productions, as well as debuting at the Theater an der Wien in the title role of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman and with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
 
Highlights of the recent past include the roles of Paolo Albiani/Simon Boccanegra at the Opera Nice Côte d’Azur and in Oman, Donner/Das Rheingold at the Opéra National de Paris, Méphisto/Damnation de Faust at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Orest/Elektra, Wotan//Wanderer/Der Ring an 1 Abend, and Scarpia/Tosca at Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden - the latter Youn performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as well, where he also performed the roles of Creon/Oedipe and Raimondo Bidebent/Lucia di Lammermoor - as well as Gunther/Götterdämmerung at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Most recently, Youn performed the roles of Alberich/Rheingold at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wotan/Siegfried as well as Dutchman/The Flying Dutchman at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutchman at Teatro Real de Madrid and Don Pizarro/Fidelio at Opera Cologne, where he also sang the title role in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle to much acclaim.

In the season 2017/18, Youn sang the role of Don Fernando in a concertante performance of Fidelio at Teatro di San Carlo Napoli under the baton of Zubin Mehta as well as made his debut as Hagen in the Ring production at Theater an der Wien. In addition, he performed the roles of Jochanaan/Salome and Scarpia/Tosca at Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as Jago/Otello at Semperoper Dresden.

Future projects include his role debut as King Henry/Lohengrin at the Opéra de Marseille, Rheingold/Alberich in Seoul, Tosca/Scarpia at Teatro di San Carlo, a concertante performance of Götterdämmerung/Alberich in Edinburgh, Tristan/Kurwenal at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Siegfried/Alberich at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Rheingold/Alberich at Teatro Real de Madrid.

Artist Website

www.samuelyoun.net 

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Video

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Orquesta y Coro RTVE in Madrid
(Solo at 01'20'14):
www.rtve.es/...

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 under Myung-Whun Chung at Chorégie d'Orange
(Solo at 00'49'50):
youtube.com/... 

Siegfried/Alberich at the Lyric Opera of Chicago:
youtube.com/... 

Der fliegende Holländer/Holländer  "Die Frist ist um". Concert in Seoul:
youtube.com/...  

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