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.

In 1999, he started his career 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 und Isolde, Gunter/Götterdämmerung, Kaspar/Der Freischütz, Pizzaro/Fidelio, and the title role in Wagner`s Der fliegende Holländer. Besides his commitment at the Cologne Opera, he has also been invited on many international stages, including Opéra national de Paris, Opéra de Marseille, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro alla Scala, Theater an der Wien, Teatro Real de Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Teatro di San Carlo Naples, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Teatro Sao Carlo Lisbon, as well as the Bayreuth Festival and Edinburgh International Festival.

Samuel Youn collaborated with conductors, such as Philippe Jordan, Christian Thielemann, Andrew Davis, Marc Elder, Andris Nelsons, Juraj Valčuha, Semyon Bychkov, Marc Minkowski, Markus Stenz, Peter Ruzicka, Donald Runnicles, John Fiore, Will Humburg, Pinchas Steinberg, Zubin Mehta, and Pierre Boulez.

In 2012, Youn had his international breakthrough singing the title role in Der fliegende Holländer under the baton of Christian Thielemann at the Bayreuth Festival, followed by re-invitations (2013-15). 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 i.a. Scarpia/Tosca, Créon in Enescu‘s Oedipe and Raimondo Bidebent/Lucia di Lammermoor at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Alberich in Das Rheingold and Siegfried at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Wanderer/Siegfried, Holländer/Der fliegende Holländer, Kurwenal/Tristan und Isolde, Jochanaan/Salome, Scarpia/Tosca and Méphisto/Damnation de Faust at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Jago/Otello at Semperoper Dresden, Holländer/Der fliegende Holländer and Hagen/Ring cycle at Theater an der Wien, Gunther/Götterdämmerung at Gran Theatre de Liceu Barcelona, Alberich/Das Rheingold and Holländer/Der fliegende Holländer at Teatro Real de Madrid, König Heinrich/Lohengrin at Opéra de Marseille, as well as Orest/Elektra, Wotan//Wanderer/Der Ring an 1 Abend and Scarpia/Tosca at Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. Furthermore, Samuel Youn performed the roles Wanderer/Siegfried, Don Pizarro/Fidelio, Vodník/Rusalka, Scarpia/Tosca, Leporello/Don Giovanni and the title role in Bartók‘s Bluebeard’s Castle.

Engagements in the past 2019/20 season included Kurwenal/Tristan und Isolde and Escamillo/Carmen at the Cologne Opera and Tomsky/The Queen of Spades and Alberich/Götterdämmerung* at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, each conducted by Andrew Davis. In the 20/21 season, Samuel Youn sang at the Opéra de Marseille as Scarpia/ Tosca before returning to his regular company at the Oper Köln with the roles of Méphistophélés/ Faust and Escamillo/ Carmen. In the past season Youn sang Alberich/ Das Rheingold in Baden-Baden, as well as at the Konzerthaus Dortmund under Yannick Nezet-Seguin and in the Théatre des Champs-Elysées.

Engagements in the coming 2022/23 season include Jochanaan/ Salome at the Teatro Petruzelli in Bari and the title role in The Flying Dutchman at the Teatro La Fenice. 
 
* Canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic

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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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