32 Facts About Sonya Yoncheva

Sonya Yoncheva is a Bulgarian operatic soprano, producer and founder of SY11 Productions company and Bulgarian Artist magazine.

Sonya Yoncheva studied piano and voice at the National School for Music and Dance in Plovdiv.

Sonya Yoncheva won several music competitions in Bulgaria in 2000 and 2001, including a joint win with her brother as "Singers of the Year 2000" in the "Hit-1" competition organised and produced by Bulgarian National Television.

Sonya Yoncheva took advanced studies in classical singing with Danielle Borst at the Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve and obtained the master's degree in 2009.

Sonya Yoncheva has continued work in the baroque repertoire with Christie, and with Emmanuelle Haim.

Sonya Yoncheva was the female first-place winner of the 2010 Operalia competition and the special CulturArte prize.

Sonya Yoncheva set a record as first singer to appear in leading roles in three movie-theater broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera in one season.

In summer 2018 Sonya Yoncheva sang the role of Poppea in L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival.

Sonya Yoncheva returned to the stage for the concerts of the Puccini Gala at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, and in Sofia.

In spring 2020, Sonya Yoncheva returned to the stage after the first European lockdown as the soprano soloist of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Victoria Hall in Geneva, telecast by Arte.

Sonya Yoncheva participated in the 2020 edition of Le Concert de Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, performed the title role of La traviata at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and appeared in concert at the Salzburg Festival, at the Arena di Verona, in Lucca and Caserta.

Sonya Yoncheva began the year 2021 starring in the Metropolitan Opera's "Met Stars Live in Concert" streaming concert series, which saw her singing arias and songs from the Schussenried Abbey in Germany.

In January 2022, Sonya Yoncheva joined the very select rank of opera stars to have appeared in Recital at the Metropolitan Opera, presenting her program "Ad una Stella" with Malcolm Martineau, followed by performances as Elisabeth de Valois in the Met's first ever staging of Verdi's Don Carlos in five acts and in French.

At the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Sonya Yoncheva performed the title role of Iolanta with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko, at the Teatro Real of Madrid Stephana in Siberia, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona Norma, and at the Teatro alla Scala, she sang her first Fedora in a new production.

In concert and recital, Sonya Yoncheva appeared at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, at the Berliner Philharmonie, in Liverpool, Tokyo, Munich, Peralada, Versailles, Lyon and Munich.

Sonya Yoncheva returned to the Teatro alla Scala for her role debut as Maddalena in Andrea Chenier, to the Vienna State Opera to make her role debut as Madama Butterfly and to the Staatsoper Unter den Lindenas Medee.

Sonya Yoncheva started the Puccini Year 2024 with performances of Madama Butterfly at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, a role she performed at the Varna Summer Theatre and the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona.

Sonya Yoncheva performed the title role of Norma at the Bavarian State Opera, Dido in Dido and Aeneas in Versailles, Toulouse, Madrid and Oviedo, as well as concerts and recitals in Caracas, Vienna, Muscat, Baden-Baden, Salzburg, Liverpool, La Grange au Lac, Tarbes, Perelada, Dubrovnik, Sao Paulo, Berlin, Paris, Toulouse, Compiegne, Dubai, Sofia and Versailles.

In June 2020, Sonya Yoncheva announced the creation of her company SY11 at a gala concert organised by the company for August at the Roman Theatre of Plovdiv.

On SY11 Productions, Sonya Yoncheva released her first book Fifteen Mirrors in 2023.

Sonya Yoncheva is a Rolex Ambassador and was named Officiere de l'ordre de Arts et des lettres of France in 2024.

Sonya Yoncheva is the winner of the 2019 Readers Award of the International Opera Awards.

In 2021, Sonya Yoncheva received a number of honors: she was named honorary citizen of her hometown Plovdiv and received Germany's most important classical music award Opus Klassik as "Singer of the Year" for her solo album "Rebirth".

In 2023, Sonya Yoncheva received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Academy of Music, Dance and Visual Arts of her native town of Plovdiv.

Sonya Yoncheva won a Young Artist of the Year award in 2015 Echo Klassik.

Sonya Yoncheva was one of the recipients of the 13th annual Opera News Awards.

Sonya Yoncheva was presented Award of the Year from the Circulo Criticos de Arte de Chile for her recital at the Teatro del Lago.

Sonya Yoncheva was a UNICEF Ambassador for Bulgaria, standing up for the rights of children.

Sonya Yoncheva married Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan in July 2014 and they live in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

Sonya Yoncheva's younger brother Marin Yonchev is a former rock singer, who became an opera singer in 2010.

Sonya Yoncheva is featured on commercial audio recordings on the Virgin Classics label.

In March 2024, a Pentatone CD of Sonya Yoncheva singing Gustav Mahler's Ruckert-Lieder was released.