Celebrated Korean soprano Sumi Jo is to hold recitals in Korea in December with the renowned Italian chamber ensemble I Musici.

Jo, 58, one of the most beloved sopranos in Korea and in the world, is to release a new album under the title “35/70” with the Rome-based chamber group in November to celebrate the 35th anniversary of her European operatic debut. The album also marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Baroque music ensemble.

The album, recorded in Rome in May, includes beloved opera arias and chamber cantatas written by Vivaldi, Handel, Albinoni, Pergolesi and Scarlatti.

Following the release, Jo and the ensemble will go onstage in Korea for a series of performances, including the Dec. 12 engagement at the Arts Center Incheon and Dec. 25-26 performances at the Seoul Arts Center. They will also perform in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, on Dec. 16 and Busan on Dec. 18.

Meanwhile, Jo said in a recent interview that there will be an international classical singing competition named after her. The competition will seek to encourage up-and-coming vocalists.

Titled “Sumi Jo International Singing Competition in Castle,” the competition will be launched in the summer of 2023 in France. As the name suggests, the event will take place at an old castle. Jo will take part in the competition as one of the jury members.

From next year, Jo will also be giving a lecture at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

In October, the soprano was named a visiting distinguished professor at the Graduate School of Culture Technology. The school announced that Jo will be giving a special online lecture on leadership from the spring semester next year. Jo’s three-year term continues until September 2024.

The soprano will carry out basic research on artificial intelligence-based musical performance analysis and applied research on future performance production and stage production techniques.

KAIST will also launch the Sumi Jo Performing Arts Research Center at the Graduate School of Culture Technology which will conduct research on image convergence and audio processing technology for virtual performance production.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)