Sumi Jo

Sumi Jo (조수미) is still one of Korea's clearest examples of classical stardom with global scale. The Grammy-winning lyric coloratura soprano built her reputation through European opera houses, technical precision, and a tone flexible enough to travel between canonical repertoire and wider crossover framing without losing authority.

Her 2026 chapter sharpens that reach instead of softening it. After four decades on the world stage, Jo signed an exclusive recording deal with SM Classics, the classical imprint of SM Entertainment, and used the milestone to launch Continuum, a 40th-anniversary project tied to new works, fresh arrangements, and collaborations that include Suho of EXO and violinist Danny Koo.

That move matters because it places Jo inside a new distribution machine without reducing her to crossover novelty. She remains a prestige classical figure first. What changed is the platform around her, which now gives SM a world-class soprano anchor and gives Jo a cleaner path into younger digital audiences.