Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

San Francisco Classical Voice hails South Korean tenor SeokJong Baek for his “warm, beautifully modulated voice”, Mr. Baek is the 1st Place winner of the 2021 Loren L. Zachary Society National Vocal Competition, 1st Prize, Audience Award and Enrico Caruso Award winner of the 2021 Vincero World Singing Competition, 3rd Prize, audience prize and Placido Domingo Prize-winner of the 59th Tenor Viñas Competition, and 3rd Price winner of the 2021 Iris Adami Corradetti International Competition. This season, he makes his role and house debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Teatro Massimo di Palermo, joins the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden covering the title role in Samson et Dalila, joins Minnesota Opera for their VOICES UNITED concert singing excerpts from Samson et Dalila, Aida, and Lohengrin, and also joins Palm Springs Opera in concert singing arias from Turandot, Tosca, Carmen and La Gioconda. Next season, he will make his Prague State Opera debut singing his first performances of Calaf in Turandot, Canio in Pagliacci and Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana, make his Arizona Opera debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca, and join the roster of the Metropolitan Opera.

Mr. Baek recently transitioned from baritone to tenor, where he previously joined San Francisco Opera as an Adler Fellow in 2019, where he sang Morales in Carmen, Gregorio in Romeo et Juliette, and the Innkeeper/Naval Captain in Manon Lescaut, while also being responsible for covering the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, the Hunter in Rusalka, and Lescaut in Manon Lescaut. As a Resident Artist with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, he sang performances of Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, David in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, and Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief. Last summer as a participant in San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Program, he sang selections as Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles and Masetto in Don Giovanni, as well as “Zaza piccolo zingara from Berrettoni’s Zaza in the Merola Grand Finale concert. While a member of the Aspen Opera Center, Mr. Baek sang his first performances of Giorgio Germont in La traviata, as well as Silvio in Pagliacci and Il Conte in Le nozze di Figaro in a concert of opera scenes. While studying at Manhattan School of Music, his roles included Gautru in Delibes’ Le roi l’a dit and Colonel Tschang in Das Land des Lächelns, as well as scenes from Don Pasquale in concert. He was also awarded First Prize in the Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Vocal Competition.

Mr. Baek is a 3rd Prize winner from the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition 2018, Grant Award winner from the Giulio Gari Foundation Internation Vocal Competition, Extraordinary Prize winner from the Sonora International Opera Competition, 2nd Prize winner of the Alfredo Silipigni Vocal Competition, 2nd Prize winner from the New Jersey Verismo Opera Competition, and has received awards from the Opera Index Vocal Competition and the Peel Music Festival Competition.

Mr. Baek attended the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto’s Vocal training program, and holds both a Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music from Manhattan School of Music.