Business

Meet the first Asian opera singer to take on the world

Published 8:38 AM ET, Mon December 17, 2012
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Sumi Jo performing at the Opening Ceremony of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea in August 2011. She also performed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2002 Football World Cup in South Korea. Andy Lyons/Getty Images/ file
Sumi Jo performing at The Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in December 2000. Gabe Palacio/ Image Direct
Jo says her destiny as an opera singer was decided by her mother -- who had wanted to be a singer herself -- before she was even born. Sumi Jo
Sumi Jo (front row, second from right) with her parents and other family members. She was in Paris performing when her father died and missed his funeral because her mother persuaded her to stay and "sing for your public." Sumi Jo
Sumi Jo pictured just a few years after her European debut in 1986 singing the difficult soprano role Queen of the Night in Mozart's "The Magic Flute" in Israel in 1991. Sumi Jo
Sumi Jo in 1999 as Lucia in Donezetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." Sumi Jo
At the age of 49, Jo is still trying to balance work with the home life that she craves. Sumi Jo
Sumi Jo has three dogs and travels with one of them whenever she can. Here she poses with one during the 41st MIDEM, the world's biggest music trade fair, in Cannes in 2007. Valery Hache/ Getty Images/ file