Sumi Jo - Bellini - La Sonnambula - Amina - Ah! Non Giunge

[VL2891]

I love this woman and her singing so elegant and intense!

[LeCoconut]

I LOVE how perfect and amazing her chromatic scales always are. Love Sumi!!!!

[johnnybouhaha]

I think in ah non credea, she is a bit too strong, and less atmospheric and dreamlike than what she ought to be. She is more secure in virtuoso pieces like ah non giunge. The same was with the mad scene from Puritani. She is however an impressive and accomplished artist.

[wrongforthat]

She is good at Bel Canto. No doubt about that.

[MrSwifts31]

On a purely trivial note:~

The delightfully talented and irreplaceable Sumi is SO tiny!

I saw her in recital at Covent Garden some years back and could(I was in the stalls) see the shoes she was wearing,they had the tallest heels imaginable,I was quite scared in case she tripped!

Now(serious mode) she sings this so amazingly,and manages to hide all the technical side of her voice in the beauty of it's sound.

Brava Sumi.

[optimal798]

I like it. But I think she needs a dress designer. Her dress makes her look like a ....

[acitipo]

Es fantastica Sumi Jo, en la agilidad enorme, sus fiorituras, trinos, escalas son hermosas, y flotan a velocidad, realmente una soprano de grandes agilidades.

MAGNIFICA!!!!!

[thomastmwc]

Ah! Non Giunge the faster the better she nails it the conductor nails it, bravo :D!!!!

[Drelnis]

@smoothiw It's ok Smoothiw it's not like I'm going to be anywhere near to see it :D I am only glad she is still singing more bel canto.

[Ellevius]

Where is the passion of especially Maria Callas and also Anna Moffo?

Very nice though.

[icylakepaxphile]

@Ellevius can't you feel the internal passion and sorrow? i think sumi's and desey's voice are more fit for amina! amina is very fragile, little girl. Callas is my favorite singer too. but so many roles she acted was not for her i think....she is Norma and Elisabetta!

[StriclyRomantic]

Flawless technic !

[istreamda9te]

While I absolutely adore her, at times it seems Sumi focuses more on technique and loses depth. This entire concert however -to me - shows that she can in fact deliver her notes with emotion and technical superiority. <3

[thangtran257]

OMG the conductor ! hot hot hot ^^

[Deadlysoprano16]

This song is my big project for this year and I will be enjoying learning it!

[Tosca3211]

Bellini wrote Sonnambula for Giuidita Pasta, a soprano sfogato (contraltos who were able to develop soprano high notes not losing their phenomenal dark voices). And Sumi Jo, a great singer, is just another coloratura singing this role like a wonderful bird. I just herar here in youtube a real Amina, as Bellini wrote her, and also live, Adelaide Negri, but with chorus and the whole thing. But Jo is ok at her coloratura leve (even if, as coloratura, I´d rather prefer Gruberova).

[franimalistic]

I don't know how you could say she is "just singing the score"! This is a beautiful performance.

[miapro]

her voice is "too good to be human"...maybe she is really a bird ha ha

[acitipo]

Esta es una verdadera soprano ligera, para cantar Ah non giunge, como en el pasado lo hizo magistralmente La Stupenda, para los que no saben me refiero a la Sutherland, y mas atras aun Erna Sack, Lily Pons, y mado Robin.

Las demas lo han hecho bien, pero no han cantado en el compas rapido y ligero que ellas cantan. comparen con otras el tiempo musical.

[SrTopocho]

@acitipo Y Amelita Galli-Curci, al mismo nivel, si no mejor :-)

[acitipo]

@SrTopocho Es verdad, me olvide de ella, lo que pasa es que me llevo por los videos de presentaciones en vivo mas que po los discos.

[killerbunny123123]

ok this woman ia a sinign-machine if u get eut i mean.....techniquely flawless! sumi jo has been my second favourite singer ok but.....wut the heck is wrong with her pronounciation? i mean....im italian but.....at the last strophe she KILLED the lyrics!

[TheMrMaz]

Sorry...not a patch on Callas's Milan performance with Bernstein conducting (and with his written embellishments !!)Callas WAS Amina...this bird sounds like shes just singing the score (and nothing spectacular about the way she's doin that either!!)...

[jackarturo2904]

Callas Sucks!!!!

[TheMrMaz]

So do you...what's your point??!!

[UominInvisibili]

@jackarturo2904 you are so stupid...

[marrieter08]

@jackarturo2904 you too

[jackarturo2904]

@marrieter08 Alas of me, I'll cry...

[Gawdator]

I agree, Callas sucks. She sounds like a crow with her ugly voice.

[TheMrMarilyn]

@Gawdator Each to his own i guess...and Callas showd all these the wAAy!!Anyone who knows anythin about performance and voice simply must recognise her 'place',even if ya don like her!!I mean right here...this girls singing sounds perfectly fine,but iss left me cold as ice!!

[smoothiw]

@TheMrMarilyn I love Maria La Divina Callas. She is just the queen., but i don't feel this Sumi Jo's singing just cold. I like both of them. They are just different.

[Musicadivina1969]

L'ho conosciuta personalmente: umile, brava, talento eccezionale.... GRANDE!!!!

[UrsulanChild]

This is some fearless singing here! Just the way I like it. Good stuff! I saw her in Tales of Hoffmann in Washington, DC some years ago. After she got through with us on that Doll Song, we could've all said closing prayer and gone home...Definitely the star of the evening.

[1soprano71]

o my god..i am a sumi fan but i was snickering by the time she got to singing the middle of "non giunge" and i was on the floor by the end of that video.i expected more from her. oh, and that conductor is hot!

[gencerito]

que terrible, al mismo tiempo escucho LA SONNABULA de Bellini en LA SCALA con la Callas y berstein,que diferencia no?, la de la Callas esta en estilo esta aca es la sonnambula de johan strauss todo lleno de portamentos que espanto, encima la JO no sabe ni lo que dice,.por que toman a la opera para hacer coloratura?,

[SrTopocho]

@gencerito Porque Bellini ES coloratura. No se puede confundir el bel canto con el verismo.

[killerbunny123123]

what I admire of her is that she has such a flawless technique that it almost seems inhuman! (she's been practicing her vocal skills since she was very young) not only that, most singers when the time goes by they lose their voice's vigor but Sumi Jo is past her 40s and she still sings like when she was 20!

[killerbunny123123]

she is a lady

[sincrotto]

Premetto che a me Sumi Jo piace molto però qui la trovo un pò fredda e con eccessivo vibrato nella voce. Cattiva incisione? Voce leggera quindi adeguata al personaggio, ma ne soffre l'espressività del momento.

[milkchug928]

the conductor is kind of hot! lol

[MonkiiGirl]

the oboe player is rather stylish as well.

[gwright199]

nice moments early on, but the ah nun giunge is marred by thin top notes, made all the more glaring by all the heavy miking. Great technique, but "colorless" coloratura.

[osmanferragi]

che pena:lei come le altre è un po' leggerina: traduco non ha lo spessore drammatico che il personaggio richiederebbe

[luigipava]

secondo me non dovrebbe avere un spessore drammatico perchè in alcuni voci con lo spessore drammatiche non faccio nomi se no qualcuno mi fulminnera succede che le colorature sono pesanti e non c'è l'agilità di muoversi in tutte quelle noticine :)

[blueviolin1]

hmm.. isn't she lip-syncing????? lol

[dreamworld6]

they don't lip-syncing in the concert

[coy6642126]

4:43 and on, goosebumps. She's amazing!

[primu2002]

Il testo è andato a farsi fottere...

Povera è anche brava se avesse messo le giuste parole al giusto posto sarebbe stata eccellente.

[luigipava]

meglio della dessay però

[primu2002]

si si sicuramente. a me piace molto + lei della dessay.

[etoiledelkirov]

@primu2002  essendo koreana ha difficoltà su questo punto di vista

[victor16ify]

@etoiledelkirov

Amico , che dici questa è una delle migliori al mondo. se classifichi le migliori dieci sumi è tra loro.

[sopjungah]

just amazing...

[DiegoMartinazzoli]

SHE IS THE HEIR OF GRUBEROVA!

[Heartlessiceboy]

Her voice is standard for a "coloratura" Soprano(the voice can't be too big or heavy,needs to be lighter to be able to do coloratura) her voice is fine,she's good in this role...and don't want to sound racist but she's one of the few asian opera singers who really transmit emotion to the audience...i don't think that is race thing it's more about their languishes and how asians pronounce it

[JuillHope17]

people need to realize: sumi jo's voice is actually very powerful and is more impressive than people think. her accuracy is amazing, and for those saying her high notes are FFF all of the time, SHUT UP because if she was screaming her high notes 24/7 she'd be out of voice. she's a small person, adn can sing the high notes as loud as any other, but goes for art which is what the compsoers were going for anyway, so on her cadenzas and high notes, she makes them lighter in spots. not here though.

[ziapengyfence]

She has a beautiful voice. It is just too think for my liking, it isn't very powerful. I can barely hear her high notes. She has a very beautiful voice but it doesn't compare to Netrebko's voice and Dessay's voice. She doesn't need to slur up to the high notes every time. I also don't love the orchestra...

[savebygrace11]

netrebko is far better you must be listen her

[kngiht84]

Netrebko is yucky in bel canto and her voice itself is not even suitable for this role. (Not to say that she had a very very difficult time trying to articulate this aria)

[coy6642126]

netrbko? seriously? she needs maturity.

[JWoperatube]

I love to set my mind back to 1831 in Milan. The period singing style must be very much like Jo's, sweet melody.

[Rafaello251]

Great singer

[smoothiw]

For record

[victor16ify]

@smoothiw è divina più sento questo pezzo più mi convinco che Jo ha un talento e una voce rari .

[taegello]

why do they use those microphones???

[operamusicfan]

To record it on TV they have to use microphones.

[tanynzh]

wow! i love Sumi's fireworks & cadenzas. but her high notes are way too stretched thin & do not cut across orchestras.

[veritush]

really?????????? :/

i think this is the first opera singer who doesn't bug me with strident high notes (that is one of the reasons of why i love her so much!). her highs mids and lows are always remarkably perfect

she has an impressive flawless gift

[veritush]

my comment was a response to tanynzh on her high notes-

i forgot to mention that though i reallly admire her, i didn't like much the ending of this piece. it wasn't as "precise" as i was expecting

[viviananderson]

veritush, you are right-she is never strident or forced on the high notes. I couldn't have put it better myself.

[viviananderson]

But she really can wear some of the tackiest gowns I have ever seen. It really is appalling.

[MunichGermany]

I was impressed the first time I heard her sing in 1989 and I can't believe she still can sing that well even upto now! What a technique! What a voice!

[taegello]

She sings safe,, her voice is never loud enough to hurt her voice i think.

[Ganeschar]

Is she Korean or Japanese?

[cek1111]

She is Korean

[singspieler]

Flawless performance. She borders on perfection!

[brightboy86]

OOH MY!! HAS SHE A PACT WITH THE DEVIL?? SHE CAN DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS WITH HER VOICe!!

[davideo321]

Brava, Our Lady of the Helium Tops. "Ah! non credea" actually quite fine, the cabaletta extremely exciting, and I always love a diva who gives her stole a workout too. Why the Met hasn't revived this for her is a mystery.

[necrogoddess]

ME ENCANTAAAAAAAA

[flo21aparis]

WOOOaaa such a nice vocal line ; coloratura !!! just love her ,

Such a pity that she doesn't thing in Big opera House more often!!

i love u sumi

[hero13712]

omg...perfect....

[brendabergman]

she is brilliant in everything that she does

[ecl411]

The ONLY thing I don't like about coloraturas, is that they sing they're mellismas so quickly, it doesn't give the audience time to soak it in...But the floated high notes are awesome.

[MrQwerty88]

Is it just me or does is the second part (Ah! Non Giunge) seem to be played with alot of .... bounce? I have many recordings of La Sonnambula, but there is something about the way that was conducted/played that I really like... Maybe it's just me, but I liked it.

She sang great too (as always).

[AlisonDee]

*speechless*

[book492]

She is a beast! Brava!

[saverioorlando]

Very good cabaletta,great coloratura.Ah non credea less so.

[ftrigo]

I'm out of air!! She's splendid!! Brilliant!!

[owenboi66]

I'm really impressed. Great technique, and she sings with real emotion as well. Came accross this by accident, and really glad to have found it. Thanks

[Iareto]

Her performance in the opera was better. The video is here on Youtube.

[tosca82]

She recorded the same piece for Erato many years ago.

I was playing there with Montecarlo Orchestra.

It was the same conductor, Paolo Olmi,that convinced her to sing so slow the first part.

It was very good to work with her.

[marjotins]

Sumi jo sings Bellini very well. well done Sumi.

[marjotins]

mnmmn

[distantm]

amazing technique, tessitura, her trills are very clean, chest notes , high notes beautiful..brava !!!

[shaeneh]

She seems to be out of her mind. I can't find Sumi Jo performing but real Amina singing. Wow.. fantastic

[talie1964]

holy crap! That last note gave me the biggest shivers. She's amazing!

[mariokalogeropoulos]

BRAVISSIMA!!!!

What a impressive interpretation. Simply P-E-R-F-E-C-T!

[SerenityEmrys]

truly beautiful voice, no wonder they call her the "Voice from the heavens"

[lipera]

What a lovely voice and a perfect tecnique! Such a flawless performance of La Sonnambula! Obviously Sumi Jo is the most recently aclaimed coloratura soprano of the world! Brava Sumi Jo Bravissima!!!!

[jundoko]

Good job!!!