The Pueblo Symphony Orchestra will open its season with “Opera in October” at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Hoag Recital Hall located on the campus of Colorado State University-Pueblo, 2200 Bonforte Blvd.

Joining the symphony will be soprano Sooyeon Kim and tenor Efrain Corralejo.

The concert will feature songs by Bellini, Verdi and Donizetti. The numbers performed will be emotionally charged, as with most operas.

“The emotions demonstrated in opera music are quite intense,oftentimes overly expressive and excessive,” Kim wrote in an email. “I try to keep my emotions as real and genuine as possible even when singing certain high notes. I believe in, and focus on, delivering just the right amount and honest level of emotions through my music.”

Kim has performed worldwide as a soloist. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Julliard School and a master’s from Indiana University.

She currently resides in New York, and continues to perform on some of the biggest stages as a soloist.

This will mark the first time she has accompanied the Pueblo Symphony, though she wrote she’s looking forward to the new experience.

“I really look forward to making music with a new maestro, singers and players,” she wrote. “There is always good energy when I make music with artists I have never worked with before. Almost every musical piece that I perform regularly become a unique piece when working with different artists in different locations. This is what makes traveling performer an exciting profession: I meet new people and get to explore various musical nuances through interacting with them.”

Kim wrote that Bellini, Verdi and Donizetti are three of her favorite opera composers.

The three represent 19th and 20th century Italian Romanticism and feature expressive musical lines and heightened emotions.

“In Bellini’s ‘I Puritani and Norma,’ the exquisitely written melodic line will be sung,” Kim wrote. “In Verdi’s ‘La Traviata,’ colorful coloratura techniques and dramatic changes in emotions will be heard. Lastly in Puccini's ‘La Boheme,’ ‘Tosca and Madama Butterfly,’ expressive music will help the audience visualize the beautiful moments of ‘Mimi and Rodolfo, Violetta and Alfredo, Tosca and Ciocio san.”

The concert provides an opportunity for audiences to hear opera music that normally wouldn’t be heard.

Kim wrote that she believes preserving opera music, and showcasing it is important to society.

“Operas were invented in the 16th century,” she wrote. “Over time, the way of presenting operas have changed, but the message has not. Human emotions are universal and do not change in times, races, or countries. Through classical music, we see that these universal emotions have been enjoyed and we connect with the past.”

Tickets to the show are $35 and can be purchased at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference, 210 N. Santa Fe Ave., or at pueblosymphony.com.

LLyons@chieftain.com

Twitter: @luke_lyons14