S.F. Opera names first female music director
Conductor Eun Sun Kim says company ‘feels like home’
San Francisco Opera made history Thursday when it named conductor Eun Sun Kim its next music director.
In an announcement by company general director Matthew Shilvock at the War Memorial Opera House, the 39-year-old Kim became the fourth music director in the company’s history — and the first woman to hold the post.
The appointment is effective Aug. 1, 2021, but Kim has already become a force within the company. In June, she conducted San Francisco Opera’s widely acclaimed performances of Dvorak’s “Rusalka.” Tonight, she’ll lead a concert featuring the young singers of the company’s Adler Fellowship program. She’ll return in the fall to conduct the season-opening production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio.”
As music director, she’ll lead the orchestra, chorus and music staff and work directly with Shilvock, managing director Gregory Henkel and other staff on repertory and casting. She will conduct up to four productions each season of her initial five-year contract.
In an interview prior to the official announcement, Kim said she was thrilled to join the company.
“I’m so grateful to be asked to be music director in this house,” she said. “It already feels like home.”
Kim said she felt an immediate rapport with the orchestra from the start of
“Rusalka” rehearsals. “I saw their passion and professionalism,” she said. “Their strength is that they sing the music. These musicians are not just accompanying the singers. They have patience, and they are positive.”
A native of Seoul, South Korea, Kim began her musical studies at a young age. She learned piano “by ear” and decided early on that she wanted to be a composer. She worked as a coach and rehearsal pianist, and one of her teachers saw she had particular skill in leading others. He suggested she study conducting, and after moving to Germany, she pursued it with a passion.
Since then, she’s made significant debuts throughout Europe. She made her U.S. debut in 2017, conducting Verdi’s “La Traviata” at Houston Grand Opera, and she was subsequently named that company’s first principal guest conductor. Last month, she made her Washington National Opera debut, conducting Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Still to come are debuts at Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera.
Shilvock said that Kim’s trajectory — and her conducting in San Francisco’s “Rusalka” — made her the right choice at the right time.
“In both the performances and the processes of preparing ‘Rusalka,’ we saw a very special kind of energy emerging in her work,” he said. “I think everyone in the company was aware of it. She’s a brilliant conductor, one who sees herself very much as the custodian of the score. At the same time, she has this joyfulness and generosity of spirit in her music-making that invites people to be their very best.”
Kim, who succeeds previous music directors John Pritchard, Donald Runnicles and Nicola Luisotti, is aware of the significance of being the first woman in the post. She recalled her grandmother, who was born in 1912 and became one of the first women medical doctors in Korea. “She was always referred to as a ‘female doctor,’ ” she said. “I’m happy that when I’m conducting, I’m just ‘a musician.’ ”