When Arirang TV first asked musical actress Sojung Lee to host talk show “Heart to Heart” with musical coach Kolleen Park, Lee thought she was being asked to appear as a guest — which she already had, twice.
After all, she was used to hitting the headlines as the first Korean musical actress to play a lead on Broadway; namely the role of Kim in “Miss Saigon” and Princess Jasmine in “Aladdin.”
“I am a singer,” says the 38-year-old performer. “I’ve been doing it for more than 15 years now. But interviewing someone, in a time limit of 22 minutes and making it interesting, it was over my head.”
However, following the advice of her friends and family, the actress decided to give the TV role a shot and moved back to Seoul.
“A friend told me that an actor can host a show but it’s more difficult to go the other way around, a host cannot necessarily act. It’s a privilege and an honor.”
To prepare for the part, Lee said she watched Oprah and Larry King with a sense of mission and prepared extensively for each segment. But each recording session soon proved to be exhausting, as interviewing often entailed eliciting certain specific responses, which conflicted with her personal views.
“I don’t want to manipulate people to hear what I want to hear,” she says.
“I used to teach before, and I always told my students that they need to find their own way to vocalize their feelings and thoughts. That’s art. You can’t force anything. Good interviews are not getting something I want to hear.”
Now that she’s halfway through her one-year contract, she has grown more comfortable. “I have a fair way to go until I pat myself on the back but at least I can breathe in the studio,” she said.
Lee added that it was amazing to be able to meet a lot of people, from poet Ko Un to boxing champion Park Ji-hyun. She also picked up new habits.
“Before I perform, I usually keep to myself. I used to be a very quiet person. But now I find myself talking all the time. To see myself transform like this, it was very difficult and I’m still not used to it. I only hope it does something good for me as a singer.”
Last month, Lee took part in LIVE! Singapore, an international performing arts conference and trade fair. And at the end of the year, Lee set to tour Japan. She is slated to appear in some 15 concerts with British musical actor Lee Mead beginning with Fukuoka in November and continuing onto Tokyo in December.

Musical star Lee So-jung returns to the music scene with the release of her new album “Chopin and the Girl,” where her timeless voice accompanies the legendary composer Frederic Chopin’s “Classic Melody.” Combining her singing abilities with Chopin’s delicate piano melody, Lee writes a new genre in music.

In “Evocation,” the melody of Chopin’s Funeral March and the poetry by the renowned Korean poet Kim So-wol are fused together to create an expressive piece. “Chopin and the Girl” is a song that Lee once played at a recital as a young girl and she felt compelled to write the lyrics herself for the piece. The song has a personal touch to it, as it’s the song that attracted Lee to the composer. Her new album is a manifestation of her musical gift as the harmony of her powerful vocal and pleasant melody is simply stunning.