Once again tackling nonclassical operatic repertoires, Baekseok Arts University professor and soprano Kim Eun-kyung has returned to the music scene with “Beautiful Season,” a homage to the sounds of her childhood.
The album, which was released on June 9, comes more than four years after her first studio album “The Letters,” which featured operatic renditions of Korean song-poems.
Veering away from the stereotypical opera album that features modern interpretations of classical scores by masters such as Puccini and Wagner, Kim once again chose the route of the unconventional, presenting listeners with her operatic rendition of folk and choral tunes that many grew up listening to as children.
Soprano Kim Eun-kyung (Universal Music)
“I am the fourth of five children, not the oldest or the youngest so growing up I never felt like I was anything special, just ‘another one of the kids,’” Kim said during an interview with The Korea Herald at the Universal Music headquarters in Seoul on Monday.
“Anytime I was scolded by my mother, I sought refuge outside with my dogs and crawled into their kennel to sleep,” she continued. “But every time I did this, I would find myself being carried in my dad’s arms, being held onto with these big hands while he sang, ‘Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling, Clementine.’”
“When I was a kid, my father used to always sing me that song (‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’) ... there was even a point in time when I thought I was Clementine,” Kim explained. “But it wasn’t until I was much older that I realized how much I cherished those childhood songs. So I consider this new album a recollection of all my wonderful and fond memories from when I was a kid.”
Kim’s latest nine-track album features the Korean renditions of popular international folk song classics including Henry Rowley Bishop’s “Home Sweet Home,” Alicia Scott’s “Annie Laurie” and Scottish folk song “The Water is Wide.”
Soprano Kim Eun-kyung (Universal Music)
“All the songs on this album in some way represent my childhood and listening to these songs is what brings me back to what I like to call the ‘beautiful season,’” she continued. “Even though my father has long since passed away, every time I hear these songs I remember the good times we had together.”
“I hope that through this album, listeners can transport their minds like I do, back to the memories of their own beautiful season,” Kim added. “I also chose to sing all these tracks in a lower key register than is normal for a soprano because when people listen to my album, I want them to feel as though they can easily sing along with me.”
By Julie Jackson (
juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)