Superstar soprano Sonya Yoncheva has been heralded as one of the most acclaimed and exciting performers of her generation. The recipient of the 2021 Opus Klassik as Singer of the Year has become an acclaimed fixture on the most important stages of the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Teatro alla Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin State Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, and the Opéra de Paris. Her unforgettable portrayals of iconic roles have received tremendous acclaim from critics and audiences alike.
Sonya Yoncheva’s extensive repertoire includes jewels of the Baroque canon, as well as works by Mozart, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, and Puccini. Celebrated for her distinctly beautiful voice and exceptional dramatic presence, Sonya is equally at home on the concert and recital stage, having performed to critical acclaim in several cities including Paris, Dresden, Baden-Baden, and Munich. <<cut>>
Born in 1981, soprano Sonya Yoncheva graduated with performance degrees in piano and voice in her hometown of Plovdiv, Bulgaria under the tutelage of Nelly Koitcheva. Sonya later obtained her master’s degree in voice at the Conservatory of Geneva, studying with Danielle Borst. Ms. Yoncheva is also the winner of several renowned international competitions, including top prize and the special CultureArte prize at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition (2010). She was honored as the Singer of the Year at the 2021 Opus Klassik Awards and the Newcomer of the Year (Singer) at the 2015 ECHO Klassik Awards. Sonya is the winner of the 2019 Readers’ Award of The International Opera Awards. She was named the 2017 medici.tv Artist of the Year, and was featured on a series of live online and archived broadcasts in celebration of this recognition.
Sonya’s thrilling 2021/22 season includes several iconic title role debuts at the world’s leading opera stages: At the Teatro alla Scala, she performs for the first time the protagonist of Ponchielli’s La Gioconda and of Giordano’s Fedora, at the Staatsoper Hamburg she makes her debut as Puccini’s Manon Lescaut and at the Paris Théâtre des Champs-Élysées she sings her first Anna Bolena. Other opera appearances include Élisabeth de Valois in a new production of Don Carlos at the Metropolitan Opera, where for the first time in Met history the French version of Verdi’s masterpiece is being performed. Sonya also returns to the title roles of Tosca at Opernhaus Zurich, of Iolanta with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Berlin Philharmonie and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and of Norma at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She also reprises her celebrated Mimì in La bohème at the Staatsoper Berlin and returns to the Teatro Real of Madrid as Stephana in concert performances of Giordano’s Verismo gem Siberia.
Sonya’s busy concert schedule includes a tour of her Rebirth programme which leads her to the Victoria Hall of Geneva, the Palau de la Música of Barcelona, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the BOZAR in Brussels. She also performs solo concert programmes at the Symfonisk Sal of Aarhus, the Greek National Opera of Athens, the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall of Budapest and for her house debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona. In recital, she appears at the Metropolitan Opera, the Salle Gaveau of Paris, the Enescu Festival of Bucharest, the Konzerthaus Wien, the Staatsoper and Philharmonie of Berlin. With the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, Sonya sings Martucci’s opulent song-cycle La canzone dei ricordi at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
Sonya kicked off her 2020/21 season at the Staatsoper Berlin, hosting a Rolex Perpetual Music Concert in support of musicians during the challenging period of COVID-19.
Following this, the superstar soprano opened the concert season of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and of the Würth Philharmoniker presenting arias from Aida, Il trovatore, La Wally, Le Villi, Gianni Schicchi, Madama Butterfly, Rusalka, Manon and Carmen. In the role of the Roman Diva Tosca, Sonya returned to the Bayerische Staatsoper of Munich, followed by the prestigious Season Inauguration Gala concert of the Teatro alla Scala. In summer 2021, Sonya appeared in the Verismo rarity Siberia in a new staging at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, as Violetta in La traviata at the Arena of Verona (telecast by ZDF and 3sat), and in concerts and recitals at the Salzburg Festival, the Munich Opera Festival, the Festival Radio France, the Théâtre du Capitole of Toulouse, the Ljubljana Festival and the St. Alexander Nevsky Square in Sofia.
Sonya Yoncheva is an alumna of William Christie’s Le Jardin des Voix and has maintained a special focus the Early and Baroque repertory. Past engagements have featured her in several iconic roles, including Phani/Zima (Les Indes galantes) and Dido (Dido and Aeneas) on tour with William Christie in Europe, Russia and the US; La Fortuna (L’incoronazione di Poppea) at the Glyndebourne Festival; Giunone (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) at the Teatro Real; Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) in Versailles; and Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) and Poppea (Agrippina) in Lille and Dijon with conductor Emmanuelle Haïm.
Sonya records exclusively for Sony Classical, and is featured on a new solo album titled Rebirth, released in 2021, on her solo album Handel, in addition to The Verdi Album and her debut solo album Paris, mon amour, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and several recordings on DVD/Blu-Ray. Her discography also includes CD recordings of Le nozze di Figaro (Contessa) for Deutsche Gramophone, Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea from the Salzburg Festival and Handel’s Messiah with the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Ms. Yoncheva is also a global ambassador for Rolex.