Locky Chung

The Korean-born baritone, Locky Chung, came in 1990 from Seoul to Germany, where he continued his training at Musikhochschule Karlsruhe with Roland Hermann and in the singing class of Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Holl at the college of music Karlsruhe. In 1992, he was winner at the ARD-Wettbewerb (broadcasting corporation competition) in Munich. He also won rst prizes at Robert Schumann competition in 1993 in Zwickau and at Hugo Wolf Competition in 1994 in Stuttgart.

Following his winnings, Locky Chung was invited to appear in operas and to give concerts all over Europe, in the USA, Canada, China, Japan and Korea and others. He gave concerts in renowned venues including Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Munchner Philharmonie with wide repertoire from ranging Baroque to Modern. He has appeared with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir under the direction of Ton Koopman, the Orchestra del Maggio Fiorentino in Florence under Peter Schreier, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Tolzer Knabenchor under Bruno Weil in Toronto, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestpielen under Wolfgang Gonnenwein, with Balthasar-Neumann Ensemble & Choir at the Schwetzinger Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival under Thomas Hengelbrock, the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker under Jorg-Peter Weigle. Under Wolfgang Gonnenwein, he sang Requiem by Johannes Brahms on a tour to Ukraine, Matthaus-Passion (BWV 244) by J.S. Bach in Beuron, Wertheim and Wolfegg, the Markus-Passion (BWV 247) by J.S. Bach under Ton Koopman at the Festival de Montpelier, as well as concert with Choir der Bamberger Symphoniker in Germany and Poland, as well as Johannes-Passion (BWV 245) by J.S. Bach in Italy. 

Locky Chung’s repertoire covers the big oratorios of J.S. Bach, Georg Frideric Handel, Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Rossini, Bruch and Benjamin Britten as well as concert repertoire of Mozart, Beethoven, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. In 1993 he made his opera debut as Eugen Onegin in the opera of the same name by Tchaikovsky at the National Opera in Seoul. In 2004 he celebrated big success as Papageno in the Moazrt’s Zauberote. His special affection applies for the Lieder singing. He gave Lieder recitals at Hugo-Wolf-Fest in Stuttgart, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Louvre in Paris, at the Wigmore Hall in London, Music Festival in Edinburgh and Asahi Hall in Tokyo, with partners as Julius Drake, Hartmut Holl and Irwin Gage, the actor Udo Samel and the writer Peter Hartling. 

His recitals were broadcast by a number of broadcasting stations, including RAI, ORF, DRS, SWR, NDF, WDR and NHK in Japan. Also, he has released many CDs including: Hugo Wolf’s Ausgewahlte Goethe-Lieder (Claves), Haydn’s Schopfung (Harmonia Mundi) under Thomas Hengelbrock and G.F. Handel’s opera lmeneo (CPL/WDR) under Andreas Spering.

Since 1997, Locky Chung has taught at the Staatlichen Hochschule fur Musik Karlsrue. Starting in 2005, he is also a professor at Hanyang University in Seoul.

photo: from bach-cantatas website