Kim Jun-su returns as Salome for a third time, targets September 27 debut mini-album

Kim Jun-su takes the lead role in the privately produced pansori opera Salome for the third time since its 2024 premiere. Performances run August 21–23 at Mapo Arts Center in Seoul, followed by a nationwide tour.

The 35-year-old left the National Changgeuk Company in January after 13 years. He'd joined during his third year at Chung-Ang University's Department of Traditional Arts and was cast in lead roles immediately. Since going independent, the work has piled up fast: Macbeth's wife in Kalomakbeth in late February, Anpyeong in the pansori opera Boheoja in mid-March, Dongho in the musical Seopyeonje in May.

Salome adapts Oscar Wilde's play with a script by Go Seon-ung, direction by Kim Si-hwa, and music by Jung Eun-hye. Kim almost declined this year's run. He worried about being locked into female roles, but the director convinced him it would sit alongside other work, not define it.

"Each stage is precious," he said, "so I have no choice but to do my best." That stands against the predictable rhythm of institutional company life.

Bigger news: Kim is self-producing his first mini-album. It blends crossover elements with pansori and targets a September 27 release—his birthday. He called it "my first beginning, the thing that makes me stand alone for the first time." A full solo performance of the pansori Sugungga is also planned for year's end.

(His goal is to prove pansori opera can be made and succeed outside the National Changgeuk Company. The 2026 schedule alone suggests he's building the case.)

"I am a storyteller and a pansori singer," he said. "Everything starts from wanting the public to find and listen to complete pansori."