Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 6 Tosca 2

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 Making magic on the podium A talk with conductor Eun Sun Kim Among the numerous pleasures delayed by the pandemic was the Lyric Opera debut of Maestro Eun Sun Kim. But in the meantime, the Korean conductor’s blazing star has only continued to rise. This past August, she began her tenure as San Francisco Opera’s first female music director. In the Fall, her Metropolitan Opera debut, with La bohème , received rave reviews. In other words, Kim isn’t one to let obstacles stand in her way for long. Even the outmoded but persistent barriers that once stood in the way of women leading opera companies or symphony orchestras garner very little notice from Kim. When she’s on the podium, what matters to her is doing full justice to the music. By Roger Pines Still—even with all the triumphs and the consistently ecstatic praise from critics—has she ever experienced a moment when being a woman was a professional issue for her? “Maybe there was,” Kim says, speaking via Zoom from Seoul, her hometown. “But if something happens because I’m a woman, or Asian, or young, I don’t analyze the situation. In rehearsal, I don’t have time to consider that kind of thing—I think that’s just my character. I know that some of my female colleagues have had problems. Simone Young (Australian conductor, former Hamburg State Opera artistic director) was an icebreaker, and I really appreciate that she was there first. My generation has had a slightly easier time.” Photo: Marc Olivier LeBlanc Eun Sun Kim at San Francisco Opera.