Seoul: ‘Star of Italy’ conferred upon soprano Sumi Jo

Korean soprano Sumi Jo, one of the most renowned and widely acclaimed opera singers in the world, received the medal of the Order of the Star of Italy (OSI), pursuant to the decision of the President of the Republic Mattarella. The Star was conferred upon the artist by Ambassador Federico Failla at a ceremony held at the Italian Embassy in Seoul. The medal was awarded to Sumi Jo for the strong ties she has always had with Italy, where she studied at the Academy of Santa Cecilia and where she still spends long periods of time studying and training. A great performer of Italian opera, the soprano often sings at charity events and favours artist exchanges with Italian opera singers as well as Italian-Korean co-productions which are successfully staged at the Seoul Opera. She has won numerous international opera singing competitions in Naples, Enna, Barcelona and Pretoria. In 1986 she won the “Carlo Alberto Cappelli” international award in Verona. In 2015, she played herself in the film ‘Youth – La giovinezza’ directed by the Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino. She has also sung the “Simple Song #3”, written by David Lang and a candidate for the Oscars.