Soprano Jo Sumi Instills Artistic Sensibility in Korean Science Gifted Students

Appointment of KAIST Visiting Distinguished Professor

Soprano Jo Sumi. Photo by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Soprano Jo Sumi, a world-class musician, has been appointed as an invited professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). She will help science prodigies develop artistic sensibility to encourage better research and achievements, and will also conduct joint research on future performance industry platforms and copyright studies.

KAIST announced on the 15th that it held a certificate awarding ceremony on the 14th at the Yang Seung-taek Auditorium in the Academic and Cultural Center at its Daejeon headquarters, appointing Jo as an invited chair professor at the Graduate School of Cultural Technology. The term is three years, from the 1st of this month until September 2024. Starting from the first semester of next year, Jo will give leadership special lectures to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition, she will conduct basic research on music performance analysis and generation using artificial intelligence, and applied research on future performance production and stage directing technologies, jointly with Professor Nam Juhan of the Graduate School of Cultural Technology.

She will establish the "Jo Sumi Performing Arts Research Center" within the Graduate School of Cultural Technology to conduct convergent research with KAIST professors and external experts. Specifically, she will advise on ▲ video technology and integration technology with sound to realistically express virtual performers such as avatars, holograms, and mixed reality ▲ interaction technology for communication between virtual performers and human performers ▲ future performance industry platforms and copyright research fields such as the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). A special performance will be held in December this year to provide artistic experiences and time for dialogue with students.

At the certificate awarding ceremony, Jo Young-jun, CEO of SMI Entertainment, her agency, attended on behalf of Jo, who is currently staying in Portugal, and received the certificate. Through a video connection, Jo said, "I sincerely thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet students as an invited chair professor at KAIST, the cradle of science and technology in our country, and to think about the convergence of culture and technology." She added, "In a rapidly changing environment, I will do my best to participate in the important research process of enhancing our quality of life through art combined with science and technology."

Meanwhile, Jo debuted in 1986 as Gilda in the opera 'Rigoletto' and has been active as a world-renowned soprano. She has shared the stage with top conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, and James Levine. She has released over 40 studio albums and continues to shine in all vocal fields including film music, popular songs, and musicals.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.