Kyu
Choi Baritone

South Korean baritone Kyu Choi studied at the Korea National University of Arts and the Royal Academy of Music, where he completed his Masters with Mark Wildman and Ingrid Surgenor. With support from Independent Opera, the Charles Mackerras Opera Scholarship, the Stokes Scholarship, the Henry Wood Award and the Josephine Baker Trust, he continued his studies for his Advanced Diploma at the Royal Academy Opera. He was a member of the Opera Studio of the National Opera, London. In opera he has sung leading roles such as the title role in 'Don Giovanni', Le Podestat in Bizet's 'Le docteur Miracle' and Dr Falke in 'Die Fledermaus' in Berlin. His recent competition successes include 1st prize at the N. Obukhova International Singing Competition in Russia (2018), the Pavarotti Prize (2019) the Joaninha Prize (2019), 2nd prize at the Clonter Opera Prize (2019) and the Opera Prize at the Mozart Singing Competition (2017). He was also a finalist at the Wilhelm Stenhammer International Music Competition in Sweden (2018). In the 2020/21 season he was a member of OperAvenir at Theater Basel. His numerous roles in Basel include Brother Rufin ('Saint François d'Assise'), Speaker ('The Magic Flute'), Marco ('Gianni Schicchi'), Baron Douphol ('La traviata'), Doctor ('The Nose') and Figaro ('Il barbiere di Siviglia'). Last season he sang Marullo ('Rigoletto') as well as Algerino ('Intolleranza 1960') and can be seen as Escamillo in 'Carmen' in 23/24.