Seongsoo Ryu

The tenor Seongsoo Ryu was born in Seoul, South Korea, and studied opera and concert singing at Yonsei University, winning a number of first prizes in vocal competitions, including awards from a leading Korean music journal. He went on to complete both his Master’s degree and an advanced opera performance course at the Hochschule für Musik Dresden.

At the age of 21 he joined the Junges Ensemble der Staatsoper Hannover, where his roles included Münzen-Mathis in Pepusch’s »The Beggar’s Opera«, the Master of Ceremonies in Prokofiev’s »The Love for Three Oranges«, the Prince in Lange’s »The Snow Queen«, the peasant in Donizetti’s »La fille du régiment« and Harald in Androsch’s »Freunde!«. In 2011 he sang Ferrando in Mozart’s »Così fan tutte« in a joint production by the Hochschule für Musik Hanover and Theater Hameln. His discography includes Bizet’s »Te Deum«, released in 2015 with him as tenor soloist. He has since appeared as a soloist in Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E flat major at the Semperoper Dresden, in a festive Mozart birthday concert at the Prague State Opera in 2018 and at the Prague Spring International Music Festival in 2019.

Seongsoo Ryu won first prize at the International Antonín Dvořák Competition in Karlovy Vary and took the Grand Prix as well as the special prize for the most beautiful tenor voice at the 5th International Giulio Perotti Singing Competition in Ueckermünde. As a chorus singer he has worked with the Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoperette Dresden, the Landesbühnen Sachsen and Theater Görlitz. He began singing regularly with the Rundfunkchor Berlin as a deputy in 2019 and has been a permanent member of the ensemble since 2023.