On March 13, Yonsei alumnus and baritone Jin Sol was named one of five winners at the National Council Auditions hosted by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Jin was selected based on the strength of his performance of arias from Verdi’s La Traviata and Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. Referring to Jin’s performance of Verdi, a New York Times music critic wrote: “The hall seemed to shrink, filled to the brim with the sound of a majestic, powerful and elegantly burnished voice.” In addition to his award at the National Council Auditions, Jin was recently selected as one of twenty-five rising stars by the magazine Opera News.

 

In a recent visit to Yonsei for an interview, Jin, when asked to reflect on his accomplishments, noted his many failures: “I actually rarely won at a competition during my undergraduate days.” The reason for this was that he had to juggle his music studies and parttime jobs. Nevertheless, he refused to give up, continuing to work hard under the guidance of Professor Kim Kwan-dong. “I learned from my failures,” said Jin. “I was rejected at many auditions initially. Every time I was rejected, I thought about the root cause of my problem from various dimensions. I finally succeeded after several attempts. This shows that better opportunities do come, even when the days seem gloomy.” He added: “I managed to persevere because I believed in myself even during the darkest moments.”

 

 

 

Recently, Jin was selected to be part of the Houston Grand Opera, one of America’s largest. His debut is set for October, when he will become the first Korean to perform as the main baritone in Faust. When asked for his advice on how to succeed, Jin explained: “It is better to go ahead and do something rather than hesitating because of uncertainty. I got off to a good start because I had faith that things would work out well as long as I worked hard.” In closing, he said: “I want my performances to touch many people.”