Photo: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han) / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Sumi Jo is, simply, one of the great coloratura sopranos of our time. That high, weightless voice running impossibly fast passages cleanly is close to miraculous to my ears. Famously championed by Herbert von Karajan and a Grammy winner in the bel canto repertoire, she's the real article, a Seoul National University graduate who's headlined opera houses around the world. For an Asian artist to command leading roles at the absolute summit of classical music when that was still rare makes her a true trailblazer. I get chills just imagining hearing that voice live; it must be overwhelming in person.
Overview
Sumi Jo, OSI (Korean: 조수미; Korean pronunciation: [t͡ɕo sumi]; born 22 November 1962) is a South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her Grammy Award-winning interpretations of the bel canto repertoire.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Sumi Jo
- Name (Japanese)
- スミ・ジョー
- Reading
- すみ・じょー
- Born
- November 22, 1962 (age 63)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Tiger
- Origin
- Changwon, South Gyeongsang, South Korea
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- opera singer / musician / classical singer / singer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Sunhwa Arts High School
- University
- Seoul National University
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://josumi.co.kr/
- Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/sumijo_official/
- Xhttps://x.com/sumijo2011
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9F%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%BC
Opera singer — see all → · Musician — see all → · More people from South Korea →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.