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, Opéra de Paris as well as the Bavarian, Berlin and Vienna State Operas. 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 Bellini, Cherubini, Giordano, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi. Celebrated for her distinctly beautiful voice and exceptional dramatic presence, Sonya is equally at home on the concert and recital stage, having performed solo concerts and recitals to critical acclaim in cities including Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Dresden, Hamburg, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Monte-Carlo, Moscow, Munich, New York, Paris, Santiago de Chile, Salzburg, Tokyo, and Vienna.
Career highlights on the opera stage include new productions of Tosca, Fedora, Don Carlos and Otello at the Metropolitan Opera, where she also performed the title roles of Norma, Luisa Miller, La traviata and Iolanta; Fedora and Il pirata (new productions), Andrea Chénier, La bohème (Mimì) and the 2020/21 season inauguration at Teatro alla Scala; the title part of Norma (new staging) and of La traviata at the Royal Opera House; of L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival; new productions of Médée and La traviata at the Staatsoper Berlin; and of Don Carlos, La bohème and Iolanta at the Paris Opéra; Madama Butterfly and Tosca at the Wiener Staatsoper; Tosca and La traviata at the Bayerische Staatsoper and in Zurich, Manon Lescaut at the Hamburg State Opera, Norma at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Il pirata and Siberia at the Teatro Real Madrid as well as Tosca and La traviata at the Arena di Verona.
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 Dido (Dido and Aeneas); Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) and Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea).
Born in 1981, Sonya graduated with performance degrees in piano and voice in her hometown of Plovdiv, Bulgaria under the tutelage of Nelly Koitcheva. She 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 and was named the 2017 medici.tv Artist of the Year.
Sonya and her brother Marin Yonchev were lauded as the Singers of the Year in the 2000 edition of the competition “Hit-1,” produced by Bulgarian National Television. Ms. Yoncheva has collaborated with acclaimed popular artists including Sting and Elvis Costello, and she retains a keen interest in film music, which includes her past collaborations with famed composer Vladimir Cosma.
Sonya is featured on her Sony Classical solo albums Rebirth, Handel, The Verdi Album and Paris, mon amour. In 2020, Sonya became a producer, creating her company SY11 in order to organize her own concerts. Up to the present, the company has organized gala concerts in Bulgaria as well as a tour featuring Sonya Yoncheva’s Rebirth programme with stops in Geneva, Barcelona and Brussels. With SY11, Sonya has also cestablished “Inmost Voices”, a concert series inviting international opera stars to Sofia to appear in recital.
Sonya Yoncheva released her new solo album The Courtesan in February 2023 on her own label SY11 Productions. Her first book Fifteen Mirrors was also released by SY11 Productions in 2023.
In November 2021, Sonya Yoncheva became a UNICEF Ambassador in Bulgaria, standing up for children’s rights.
Sonya is also a global ambassador for Rolex.
