JONGWOO HONG

The South Korean tenor Jongwoo Hong is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Opera Performance at the Carl Maria von Weber College of Music in Dresden. He completed his Bachelor’s degree at Seoul National University with Kammersänger Prof. Seung-hyun Attila Jun.

During his studies in Dresden, he was a finalist at the Città di Pienza International Competition and a semifinalist at the Gaetano Fraschini International Competition, and won third prize at the 2024 Maria Caniglia International Competition in Sulmona. In 2022, he sang the role of the Servant in a university production of Dominick Argento’s The Boor.

In November 2023, he made his debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in I Meistersinger di Norimberga. Since August 2023, he has been a member of the Junges Ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden, where he has performed the roles of Victorin/Gaston (Die tote Stadt), the Second Priest/Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte), and the Second Nazarene (Salome). In 2025, he debuted at the Leipzig Opera as Luigino (Il viaggio a Reims) and reprised the role of the Second Nazarene in Salome. In the 2025/2026 season, he will become a permanent member of the Semperoper Dresden’s soloist ensemble.

The program for the first round explores the tenor’s versatility, pairing an aria from the verismo repertoire, “È la solita storia del pastore” from Cilea’s opera L’Arlesiana – where the protagonist Federico reflects on his unrequited love – with the declaration of love by the character Lensky from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

The semifinal ranges from Puccini’s sacred music, with “Gratias agimus tibi” from the Messa di Gloria, to two contrasting operatic repertoires. The famous duel aria of Lensky, “Kuda, kuda,” is juxtaposed with the demanding “Mit Gewitter und Sturm” of the Steersman from Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer, a piece that requires remarkable vocal prowess and interpretive variety.