David Butt Philip
Jihoon Kim
tenor
bass
© Robert Workman
British tenor David Butt Philip is an alumnus of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House. In 2014, shortly after completing the programme, he made a hugely acclaimed English National Opera debut as Rodolfo in La bohème. This season he makes his role debuts as Erik (The Flying Dutchman) in Lille and Luigi (Puccini’s Il tabarro) with Opera North, and returns to Glyndebourne Festival Opera to sing Laertes in a new commission of Shakespeare’s Hamlet by Brett Dean, with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Concert engagements include Froh in Das Rheingold and The Dream of Gerontius, both with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo as well as tonight with the LPO; The Dream of Gerontius at the Musikverein in Vienna; and his US debut as Froh at the Tanglewood Festival with Andris Nelsons. Further ahead David makes his debut at the Teatro Real Madrid and returns to the Royal Opera House and English National Opera. Recent engagements include Grigory in a new production of Boris Godunov at the Royal Opera House, which he subsequently reprised at the BBC Proms; Pinkerton (Madam Butterfly) at ENO; and Laca (Jenůfa) at Opera North.
Winner of the Audience Prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini International Singing Competition and First Prize at the Luigi Illica and Alfredo Giacomotti International Singing Competitions, Jihoon Kim, born in Korea, studied at the National University of Seoul and the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. He was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, subsequently becoming a Jette Parker Principal and a Company Principal. His many roles for the Royal Opera have included Alessio (La sonnambula), Hector’s Ghost (Les Troyens), Wagner (Faust), Chevalier/Priest (Robert le diable), Second Armed Man (The Magic Flute), Colline (La bohème), Sciarrone (Tosca), Tom (Un ballo in maschera), Flemish Deputy (Don Carlo), Count Ceprano (Rigoletto), Pietro (Simon Boccanegra), Dr Grenvil (La traviata) and Hermann Ortel (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). He also appeared with the Royal Opera as Doctor (Macbeth) on tour to Japan and Monterone (Rigoletto) at the Operalia Gala. Engagements elsewhere have included Timour (Le roi de Lahore), Silva (Ernani) and Ferrando (Il trovatore) for Chelsea Opera Group; Ashby (La fanciulla del West), The Monk (Don Carlo) and Old Hebrew (Samson et Dalila) at the Palau de les Arts, Valencia; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra; and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with Southbank Sinfonia. Jihoon Kim’s current engagements include Colline (La bohème) and Bonze (Madam Butterfly) for Welsh National Opera; Sarastro (The Magic Flute) for Longborough Festival Opera; Angelotti (Tosca) for Grange Park Opera; and a return to the Royal Opera House during the 2017/18 season.
10 | London Philharmonic Orchestra