Biography
A
graduate of Yonsei University (South Korea), Se‑Jin Hwang joined the Seoul
Opera at the age of 23 making his debut there in the title role of Gounod’s Faust. Other roles followed, including Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Rodolfo (La Bohème),
Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Ernesto (Don Pasquale),
Lionel (Flotow’s Martha), Arturo (I Puritani), Federico (Cílea’s L’Arlésienne), and Romeo (Gounod’s Roméo et
Juliette). After a fruitful collaboration with conductor Carlo Palleschi
in I Puritani, he decided to pursue his career in Italy
to broaden his knowledge of Western culture. He won the G.B. Viotti, the Rocca
delle Maccie, and the Titο Schipa Competitions and he was also a prize-winner
at the Francesco Viñas Competition in Barcelona. He was received at the Osimo
Opera Academy (Italy) under the direction of Sergio Segalini who invited him to
the Martina Franca Festival to perform Schubert’s Die
Winterreise song cycle. At the same festival, he also performed the
roles of the Evangelist and the tenor in J.S. Bach’s St.
Matthew Passion and he took part in a Concert-Gala of Viennese
Operettas. He has appeared at the Osimo Festival in the roles of Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto),
Des Grieux (Massenet’s Manon), Werther, Beppe (the
French version of Donizetti’s Rita), and Ferrando (Così fan tutte). In 2002, the Seoul Opera hired him to sing
the role of Anatole (Prokofiev’s War and Peace). That
same year, he joined the Paris Opera Chorus. Today, he continues to take part
in numerous festivals