“…Tenor, WooYoung Yoon scored big, with eight pure and glorious high C’s in Tonio’s aria, “Ah, mes amis!” from the Daughter of the Regiment. Unlike famous performers of this knotty aria, Yoon didn’t rush into the climaxing ninth high C. He paused, took a big breath with a sigh, bringing friendly laughter from the audience, and then hit the rafters and held the note right into the inevitable ovation.”  The 2018 Merola finale was grand indeed.” ……. Janos Gereben-San Francisco Classical Voice

WooYoung Yoon
Tenor

Tenor WooYoung Yoon has been praised for his “soaring high notes” and a voice that “conveys nobility” – Opera News. This season he returns to San Jose Opera for the roles of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and Rodolfo in La Boheme. He joined San Jose Opera last season as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and Romeo in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliet.  In 2023 he made his role debut as Edgardo with the New York City Opera in their production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and returned later in the season for a concert commemorating the heroism of Chiune Sugihara which debuted at Carnegie Hall.  Additional highlights of last season include Mozart’s Requiem for the Evansville Philharmonic and a return to the NYCO for All Is Calm.

In previous seasons he joined Maestro John Nelson for Christus am Oelberg with the Orquesta Sinfonica National de Costa Rica, made his Carnegie Hall debut as the tenor soloist in Mozart’s Regina Coeli, debuted Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Knoxville Opera and the New York City Opera, and performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Lubbock Symphony. Recent performances include the title roles in Les contes d’Hoffmann as a guest with Opera Theater Rutgers, and Le Damnation de Faust with Maestro Nelson and the Orquesta Sinfonica National de Costa Rica.

A 2018 Merola Young Artist, he returned to San Francisco Opera the following season for a recital in the Schwabacher Recital Series, before joining the New Jersey State Opera as Rodolfo in La Boheme.  He made his role debut as Don José in Carmen for the Trentino Music Festival, a role he later reprised for the Martina Arroyo Foundation. At the Manhattan School of Music, he performed the Mozartian roles Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Tito in La Clemenza di Tito, and Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail.

WooYoung will be heard in the final round of the 2023 Viñas competition in Barcelona in January. Among his numerous awards, he is a 2022 Opera Index Awards winner, A 2019 Grand Prize Winner in the Orpheus Competition, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Eastern Regional Finalist, a finalist in the Harbin competition, a semi-finalist in the Zachary Competition, winner of the Grand Prix Prize at the Talents of the World Voice Competition as well as the Audience Favorite Award, 3rd place winner in the Marcella Sembrich International Voice Competition, and a prize winner in the Altamura/Caruso International Voice Competition.