About this Artist
Born in 1981 in Bulgaria, SONYA YONCHEVA graduated in piano and voice in the class of Nelly Koitcheva in her hometown of Plovdiv, and obtained her master’s degree in classical singing at the Conservatory of Geneva in the professional class of Danielle Borst, receiving the special prize of the Town of Geneva.
Yoncheva is the winner of the world´s most famous opera competition, Operalia 2010, conducted and organized by Plácido Domingo at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and she was honored with the Special Prize Cultur Arte offered by Bertita and Guillermo Martinez. She also received the Special Prize of Les Amis du Festival for her performance of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Academy of Aix en Provence Festival 2007, as well as a few scholarships provided by Swiss Foundations such as Mosetti and Hablitzel. Yoncheva is also a first prize winner of competitions in her home country: Competition for German and Austrian Classical Music 2001, Competition for Bulgarian Classical Music 2000 , and Young Talents 2000. She and her brother Marin Yonchev became the Singers of the Year 2000 in the edition of the competition Hit-1 organized and produced by Bulgarian National Television.
In 2007, after participating in the academy for young singers Jardin des Voix, conducted and organized by William Christie, Yoncheva received exciting new engagements in venues such as the Glyndebourne Festival, Swiss National Television and Radio, Théâtre du Châtelet, and the Festival of Proms. Later she was seen in productions and concerts at the Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro alla Scala Milano, National Opera of Praga, Festival of Montpellier, Lille Opera, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as concert halls such as Tonhalle Zurich; Verdi Milano; Cité de la Musique, Paris; Pleyel, Paris; Lincoln Center, New York; London’s Barbican Center; Alte Oper, Frankfurt; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Auditorio Nacional, Madrid; Gulbenkian, Lisbon; Auditorio di Valladolid; Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow; Concert Hall of Marinskii Theater, St. Petersburg; Copenhagen Concert Hall; Dortmund, Hamburg, and Munich concert halls; Champ-Elysées Theater; and Geneva Opera House.
Sonya Yoncheva collaborated with many artists from the world of the opera, cinema, and rock music, including William Christie, Sting, Plácido Domingo, Emanuelle Haïm, Vladimir Cosma, Elvis Costello, Milena Canonero, Natasha Regnier, Piergiorgio Morandi, James Conlon, Pierluigi Pizzi, Robert Carsen, Danielle de Niese, Bryn Terfel, Erwin Schrott, Vittorio Grigolo, Adam Fischer, Ottavio Dantone, Fabio Biondi, Giovanni Antonini, and Alan Gilbert.