Rudy Park (Ji Eung Park) studied voice in South Korea and moved to Italy in 2002, graduating at the Santa Cecilia Music Conservatory in singing. He then continued his studies in Italy and Germany. He won numerous awards: 10th edition of the Anemos Lyric Competition in Rome; 11th edition of the Mario Lanza International Competition in Filignano (Italy); and second edition of Luciano Neroni Lyric International Competition in Ripatransone (Italy).
In 2014 he won the Wilde Awards Best Performance for his interpretation of Calaf in Turandot performed at the Michigan Opera Theatre. In 2009 he won the voice competition at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, after which he made his debut as Calaf. The same year, he made his debut as Pollione in a new production of Norma that toured several Italian towns. His operatic repertoire includes: Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio); L'elisir d'amore (Nemorino); Tosca (Mario Cavaradossi); La Traviata (Alfredo Germont); Cavalleria Rusticana (Turiddu); La Bohème (Rodolfo); Rigoletto (Duca di Mantova); and Turandot (Calaf).
Mr Park participated in the Ten Tenors Gala, a concert in honor of Mario Del Monaco, opposite Fabio Armiliato, Nicola Martinucci, Lando Bartolini and Vincenzo Bello and conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti. He then performed I Shardana (Torbeno) and Tosca (Mario Cavaradossi) at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari; Turadot (Calaf) in Verona and in Seoul; Ernani (title role) in Bologna, on tour in Japan and in Sassari; Cavalleria Rusticana (Turiddu) in Athens; Norma in Budapest; Turandot at the Nikikai Opera Foundation in Tokyo under the baton of Gianluigi Gelmetti and at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing; Norma on tour in Sicily; Turandot in Genoa. He also sang Tosca at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago; Ernani in Cremona, Como, Pavia and Brescia; I Vespri Siciliani in Athens; Cavalleria Rusticana in Las Palmas and Sassari.
Recently, he has debuted as Manrico in Il Trovatore in Athens, as Radamès in Aida at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, and made his US debut at the Michigan Opera in Detroit as Calaf in Turandot, a role that he also sang at Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Sanxay and in Bogotà; Otello (title role) in Seoul and Las Palmas; Tosca in Genoa, Athens; Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; and Tosca in Genoa and Athens. He also appeared in Cavalleria Rusticana at the La Scala under Donato Renzetti.
(photo: artist’s archive)