Insung Sim
Insung Sim was born in South Korea, where he studied music and, from 1994, singing at university. At the Center for the Arts in Seoul, he sang the role of Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Don Pasquale and Sparafucile as well as Figaro at the National Theatre in Seoul.
In 1996 he was awarded first prize in the KBC competition in Korea. In 1998-1999 he completed his vocal studies at the Vienna Conservatory. In July 2000, he was awarded two special prizes in the Belvedere Competition. Insung Sim has won several other competitions, including in Los Angeles and Oslo.
In 2001 he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera, where he sang the role of the Steuermann in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, Ratcliffe in Mascagni's Guglielmo Ratcliffe, Schlucken in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, and the Geisterbote in Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten. Insung Sim also made his debut in the role of Brétigny in Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Klingsor in Wagner's Parsifal, Roucher in Giordano's Andrea Chénier and Silva in Verdi's Ernani.
He has performed at internationally renowned opera houses and at the most important festivals such as the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Montpellier Festival, the Tokyo Opera Nomori, the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Hong Kong Opera and the Glynbourne and Vendee Festivals, where he played Pimen in Boris Godunov, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Don Quixote with great success. In the role of Gustavo in Handel's Faramondo, he was a guest at the opera houses of Lausanne, the Opéra de Vichy, the Théâtre du Champs Elysees, and the Théâtre du Caen. Other roles have included Philipp in Verdi's Don Carlos at the Halle Opera, Timur in Puccini's Turandot at the Savonlinna Festival, Dulcamara in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at the Seoul Opera, etc. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in the role of Capulet in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and at the Mannheim National Theatre in the roles of Fafner and Sarastro.
Insung Sim's performances in recent seasons have included Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Principe di Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Teatro Petruzelli di Bari, Principe di Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Ópera Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte at the Komische Oper Berlin, Giovanni in Il Corsaro at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and Verdi's Requiem at the Opera Philadelphia in the USA.
He has also sung on CD productions of Wagner's Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde for Deutsche Grammophon and Handel's opera Faramondo for EMI / Virgin Classics.