Soprano Hera Hyesang Park's New Album BREATHE Out Now

Soprano Hera Hyesang Park has unveiled Breathe, her second album for Deutsche Grammophon. Following her debut release I am Hera, Breathe explores the bravery humans require to emerge from life's most difficult circumstances and thrive - as expressed through operatic classics by Rossini, Verdi, Massenet and others, alongside contemporary works by such composers as Luke Howard, Cecilia Livingston, Hyowon Woo and Bernat Vivancos. The album was recorded in Genoa with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Carlo Felice and conductor Jochen Rieder, and Hera is joined on select tracks by mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo. Hera performs repertoire from Breathe in recital on February 13, 2024 at Seoul's Lotte Concert Hall and performs a featured recital with pianist Bretton Brown on March 1, 2024 at the Barbican in London.

Breathe grew out of the existential questions that beset so many of us during and after the pandemic. At a particularly low point in the pandemic, Hera came across the words of the Seikilos Epitaph - the oldest surviving complete musical composition - including the phrase "While you live, shine." After completing the recording, the soprano was inspired by a vivid dream to try free-diving, an unfamiliar and dangerous skill for someone who uses their breath professionally but rarely holds it. "As I held my breath underwater, I experienced the most beautiful breath, unlike anything I had ever known," Hera says, "All thought ceased and I simply existed. There was a deep sense of peace."

The album opens with Australian composer Luke Howard's While You Live, specially adapted to include the words of the Seikilos Epitaph. Hera has made a music video for this track, out today, directed by Argentinian film-maker Mariano Nante. Shot at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the video takes the soprano on a dreamlike voyage from an abandoned opera house to the middle of an infinite ocean, where Hera can be seen free-diving in live-action footage recorded without special effects or stunt doubles.

Hera's choice of contemporary repertoire also includes Catalan composer Bernat Vivancos's Vocal Ice, a work inspired by Michelangelo's Pietà; the central movement of Breath Alone, written for Hera by Canadian composer Cecilia Livingston, and premiered by the soprano at Carnegie Hall in March 2023; and an excerpt from Requiem aeternam by fellow South Korean Hyowon Woo, in which Hera is accompanied by the ajaeng, a traditional Korean string instrument.

Breathe strikes a poignant note through Hera's portraits of individuals facing the threat of death with "unwavering determination and resilience." First among these is the real-life inspiration used by Górecki in his Symphony No. 3 - the prayer scratched on a prison wall by a young Polish girl arrested by the Nazis in 1944.

From the operatic canon, Hera has chosen Cecilia's dying confession from Licinio Refice's 1934 retelling of the saint's martyrdom, as well as an extract from the ending of Rossini's L'assedio di Corinto, in which Pamira, her servant Ismene (Emily D'Angelo) and their Greek companions choose death in the face of the Turks' conquest of Corinth. Additional works selected for this album include portraits by both Rossini and Verdi of Shakespeare's Desdemona, doomed to fall victim to Othello's jealous rage. Verdi's "Ave Maria" for the tragic heroine is mirrored by a version of the same prayer set to the well known "Méditation" from Massenet's Thaïs (arr. Matthias Spindler), preceded by an excerpt from the French composer's Le Cid. The album also incorporates the classic "Evening Prayer" from Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel and "Flower Duet" from Delibes' Lakmé, both of which feature Emily D'Angelo alongside Hera, and a beautifully expressive rendition of "In trutina" from Orff's Carmina burana.

"I hope that many people who listen to this album will find the courage to live their lives with peace and strength through this music," says Hera Hyesang Park. "We all have something to say that somebody out there needs to hear, and only we can say it in precisely the right way. So don't keep silent. Share what you have to say with the whole world. Just breathe and be brave!"

About Hera Hyesang Park

While Hera Hyesang Park has won rave reviews for her fine singing and stagecraft, there is much more to her artistry. The South Korean soprano's cosmopolitan mindset and determination to challenge racism, discrimination and stereotypes of all kinds are also essential elements in her approach to making music. Performing and recording are, for her, both acts of self-discovery and heartfelt, emotionally honest ways to connect with others. With immaculate technique and apparently infinite variety of tone colours, her lyric coloratura voice reflects the fearless nature of the Park performance style - always daring, never dull.

Hera Hyesang Park's rising-star status is supported by a series of critically acclaimed performances everywhere from the Metropolitan Opera to the Glyndebourne Festival. In 2019 she won plaudits for her house debut as Musetta in Barrie Kosky's new production of La bohème at the Komische Oper Berlin. Later in the year, her run as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Glyndebourne Festival was described by The Times (London) as "phenomenal", while Classical Source commended her for discovering an "element of vulnerability and pathos that adds flesh and blood to the character".

The free-spirited soprano signed an exclusive agreement with Deutsche Grammophon in May 2020. She marked the occasion with a virtual recital for the Yellow Label's "Moment Musical" series, streamed from Berlin's Meistersaal. Recorded with the Wiener Symphoniker and Bertrand de Billy, Park's DG debut album is built from songs and arias dear to her heart. I am Hera, which was released digitally in November 2020 and had its physical release in January 2021, includes music by Bellini, Gluck, Handel, Mozart, Pergolesi, Puccini and Rossini. It also embraces works by Korean composers Joowon Kim and Un-Yung La, including the latter's uplifting setting of Psalm 23.

"Instead of making myself perform a list of songs that might impress others, I decided to take a chance on myself and perform songs that resonate with my core values," Park told OperaWire in May 2020. "I feel my purpose is to make the world a little better by living a healthy life and knowing that the talent I have been given is in essence meant to bring more light to the world."

Park's personality and her evolution as a singer have been shaped by her Korean roots and by her experience of life in the West. She describes herself as "traditional but uncommon", always ready to learn from classical and modern attitudes to life and art.

In September 2020 Park sang the role of Violetta Valéry in the world premiere of the 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, Marina Abramović's pioneering opera project for the Bayerische Staatsoper, a role which she reprised at the Opera de Paris in September 2021. Other recent highlights include her role debut as Pamina in the Met's production of The Magic Flute, Despina in Cosi fan tutte, Susanna le Nozze di Figaro at Glyndebourne Festival, Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore at Berlin Staatsoper (which she revisits in the Staatsoper's opening production of the 2022/23 season).

Hera Hyesang Park's gift for performing, recognised and encouraged at an early age, led to studies at the Seoul National University and The Juilliard School of Music. She made her international breakthrough in 2015 when she was among the prize winners at Plácido Domingo's Operalia Competition, going on to win first prize at the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Competition in 2016 and the coveted Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award in 2018. Her flair for fashion subsequently caught the eye of Vogue editor-in-chief Dame Anna Wintour, who chose the Giambattista Valli gown that Park wore to New York's Met Gala in 2018.

After completing her two-year Artist Diploma in Opera Studies at the Juilliard School in 2015, Park became a member of the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. She made her house debut at the Met in 2017 as the First Wood Sprite in Rusalka and made a successful return in 2019 as Amore in Mark Morris's staging of Orfeo ed Euridice. Other career highlights include her Bayerische Staatsoper house debut as Despina; Aldimira in Rossini's Sigismondo with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester; Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem at Leipzig's Thomaskirche; and concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and for Los Angeles Opera.

Breathe Album Tracklist

1. Luke Howard - While You Live [4:06]

Henryk Górecki - Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" Op.36
2. Lento e largo - Tranquillissimo "Mamo, nie placz, nie" [4:33]
3. Lento e largo - Tranquillissimo "Mamo, Mamo, Mamo, Niebios Przeczysta Królowo" [4:33]

4. Carl Orff - Carmina Burana [2:16]

5. Engelbert Humperdinck - Hänsel und Gretel [2:46]
Emily D'Angelo (mezzo-soprano)

6. Cecilia Livingston - Breath Alone: Paula Modersohn-Becker Version for 2 Sopranos and Chamber Orchestra [7:13]

Gioachino Rossini - Otello
7. Affettuoso [1:21]
8. Assisa a' piè d'un salice [3:38]
9. Oh Dio! Qual mal strepito è questo! [2:46]
10. Deh calma, o ciel, nel sonno [2:06]
Emily D'Angelo (mezzo-soprano)

Bernat Vivancos - Vocal Ice
11. Doux, austere [1:47]
12. Calme, tendre [5:51]

13. Giuseppe Verdi - "Ave Maria, piena di grazia" from Otello [4:41]

14. Hyowon Woo - Requiem aeternam (Eoi Gari) [2:40]
Seulji Kim (zither)

Jules Massenet - Le Cid
15. Plus de tourments et plus de peine [1:55]
16. Allez en paix, vous que l'on aime [1:45]

Jules Massenet - Ave Maria, gratia plena
17. Andante religioso [2:33]
18. A tempo più animato [2:28]

Licinio Refice - Cecilia
19. Molto vivo e con fuoco [2:25]
20. Grazie, sorelle! [2:09]
21. Padre! Ho pregato [4:57]

Léo Delibes - Lakmé (Flower Duet)
22. Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs [1:06]
23. Dôme épais le jasmin [4:29]
Emily D'Angelo (mezzo-soprano)

Gioacchino Rossini - L'assedio di Corinto
24. L'ora fatal s'apressa [2:38]
25. Giusto ciel, in tal periglio [3:25]
Emily D'Angelo (mezzo-soprano)

Total Time: 61:47

Coro del Teatro Carlo Felice, Teatro Carlo Felice
Jochen Rieder
Recorded: 2022-07-09
Recording Venue: Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova

Hera Hyesang Park 2024 Performance Calendar
January 19, 2024
Recital with pianist Andrés Sarre
Palacio Municipal de Álamos | Sonora, Mexico

February 13, 2024
Breathe Album Launch with Ditto Orchestra
Lotte Hall | Seoul, Korea

February 23-25, 2024
Residency at Cedars Hall Wells Cathedral School | Wells, United Kingdom

March 1, 2024
Recital with pianist Bretton Brown
Milton Court, Barbican Centre | London, United Kingdom

March 3, 2024
Recital with pianist Bretton Brown
Stoller Hall | Manchester, United Kingdom

March 16, 2024
Mozart's Great Mass in C with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Festival Hall | London, United Kingdom

March 2024
Breathe Album Recital with Orchestra
Teatro Colón | Buenos Aires, Argentina

April 24, 2024
New York Philharmonic Spring Gala with Gustavo Dudamel, Common, and Bernie Williams
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall | New York, New York

June 2024
Cosi fan tutte (Despina)
Opera de Paris | Paris, France

*Photographer Credit: Video still by David Sisso & Guido Chouela

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