Ah! tardai troppo

Sumi Jo (born 22 November 1962) is a Grammy Award winning South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire. In 1986, Jo made her European operatic debut as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste. This debut performance attracted the attention of Herbert von Karajan, who proceeded to cast her as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera opposite Plácido Domingo at the Salzburg Festival in 1989. Due to the death of Karajan during the rehearsals of this planned performance, Jo actually never had the opportunity to sing on stage under the baton of Karajan (Georg Solti conducted the performance) though early that year she had sung in the studio recording of the work for Deutsche Grammophon In 1988, Jo made her La Scala debut as Thetis in Jommelli's Fetonte. That same year she also made her debut with the Bavarian State Opera and sang Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro at the Salzburg Festival. In 1989, Jo made her debut with the Vienna State Opera and returned to the Salzburg Festival to sing Oscar in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. That same year, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera, once again portraying Gilda in Rigoletto. Jo would later reprise this role numerous times with the Met over the next fifteen years. In 1990, Jo made her debut with the Chicago Lyric Opera as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute. The following year, she returned to the Metropolitan Opera for another performance as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and made her Royal Opera at Covent Garden debut as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann. She returned to Covent Garden the next year to sing both Adina in L'elisir d'amore and Elvira in I puritani. Over the next decade Jo maintained a busy schedule, singing Lucia in Strasbourg, Barcelona, Berlin, and Paris; La sonnambula in Brussels and Santiago, Chile; I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Minnesota Opera; Olympia in New York; Rosina in New York; the Queen of the Night in Los Angeles; Gilda in Bilbao, Oviedo, Bologna, Trieste, and Detroit among others; Il turco in Italia in Spain; L'enfant et les sortilèges in Boston and Pittsburgh; Le comte Ory in Rome; and Dinorah in New York. She also appeared in performances at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Opéra National de Paris, Washington Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opera Australia, and the Teatro Colón. Sumi Jo has over 50 recordings to her credit, including ten solo albums for Erato, the French division of Warner Classics. These recordings include complete operas, oratorio, operetta, orchestral works and Broadway standards. Notable recordings include the voice of the falcon in Sir Georg Solti's Grammy Award winning recording of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten for the Decca label and the role of Oscar the page in Herbert von Karajan's recording of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera for Deutsche Grammophon...

Lyrics & English Translation

Ah! Too long I have waited;
And yet I have not found
at our favorite place my dear Carlo.
And who can tell
What he has suffered!
But not as much as I have!
As a symbol of his love
He left me these posies!
What a tender heart!
And for that heart
I do adore him
It is the greatest treasure he has!
We are both but poor,
Living only on thoughts of love
If he be an unknown painter,
He will shine with his genius!
And I will be his wife.
Oh, what contentment!

Oh, you are the radiance of my soul,
Delightful life and love;
On earth and in heaven,
We will be united.
Come, my dear
And find calm in my yearning heart
That sighs for your love,
Of which mine is for you alone.


A link to this wonderful artists personal Website:

Please enjoy!

I send my kind and warm regards,