Sonya Yoncheva Kicks Off Celebrity Opera Series At The Broad Stage

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage's 2018-19 Celebrity Opera Series opens with one of the most acclaimed sopranos in the world, Sonya Yoncheva, with Domingo Hindoyan, conductor, on Wednesday, November 7 at 7:30pm. Zachary Woolfe said in The New York Times, "Yoncheva is a performer that I'd seek out, no matter what she does." Tickets for members are now on sale. Tickets for the general public will go on sale on Wednesday, September 12.

Sonya Yoncheva 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. Of her performances in La traviata at the Staatsoper Berlin, Die Welt proclaimed: "She is the finest Violetta since Maria Callas. The Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is possibly the best Traviata in the world at present."

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.

Artists for the remaining concerts in the Celebrity Opera Series will be announced at a later date. The Celebrity Opera Series is made possible by generous support from The Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation. The Foundation continues to make contributions to strengthen the concert series at The Broad Stage and enrich the cultural life of Los Angeles.

Tickets for members are now on sale. Tickets for the general public will go on sale on Wednesday, September 12 at thebroadstage.org or by calling 310-434-3200.

About Sonya Yoncheva

Yoncheva's starry 2018/2019 engagements include her title role debut in a new production of Cherubini's Médée at the Statsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, followed by her return to the Metropolitan Opera for performances as Desdemona in Otello and in the title part of Iolanta. Sonya returns to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden as Desdemona in a new staging of Otello, a role that also leads her to the Berliner Philharmonie for concert performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. She also reprises her acclaimed portrayals of Tosca at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin and the Opéra de Paris, of La traviata at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and of Norma at the Bavarian State Opera of Munich.

Performances on the concert platform include Rossini's Stabat Mater at the Philharmonie of Paris, gala concerts at Teatro alla Scala and Opéra de Paris, recitals at Teatro alla Scala, the Monte-Carlo Opéra and the Teatro Real of Madrid and solo concerts at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Budapest Opera, the Liège Opera House.

Highlights of past seasons
Yoncheva began the 2017/18 season in Paris, where she made her debut as Élisabeth de Valois in a new production of Verdi's Don Carlos, followed by performances in one of her signature roles, Mimì, in a new staging of Puccini's La bohème, all for the Opéra de Paris. She then travelled to New York's Metropolitan Opera, where she made her greatly anticipated debut in the title role of a new production of Puccini's Tosca, and reprised her acclaimed portrayal of Mimì in La bohème. Additionally, Yoncheva debuted in the title role of Verdi's Luisa Miller in the first Met performances of the opera in more than ten years. Following this string of starry engagements, Sonya Yoncheva made her role debut as Imogene in a new production of Il pirata at the Teatro alla Scala and starred as Poppea in a new staging of L'incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival. Sonya sang in concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Konzerthaus Dortmund on an all-Verdi programme, in addition to being the soloist at the Bayerische Staatsoper's annual outdoor summer Festival Concert "Opera for All". She has been 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.

During the 2016/17 season, Yoncheva debuted in the title role of Bellini's Norma and sang Antonia in Les contes d'Hoffmann at Royal Opera House, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and was Mimì at the Teatro alla Scala. Yoncheva also returned to The Metropolitan Opera as Violetta in La traviata, and was a featured artist at the Met's Gala Concert celebrating its 50th Anniversary at Lincoln Center. Sonya sang a full Verdi Gala concert in her home country of Bulgaria, a recital for the Turku Music Festival, and embarked on a concert tour featuring Baroque repertoire with Academia Montis Regalis which was highlighted on a Sony Classical album release.

Other past performance highlights include several Metropolitan Opera appearances, featuring her debut as Gilda in Rigoletto and star turns as Mimì in La bohème, Violetta in La traviata, and Desdemona in the 2015/16 opening production of Otello; the title roles of Iolanta, La traviata and Lucia di Lammermoor at Opéra de Paris, Violetta at the Staatsoper Berlin, the Palau de les Arts Valencia, Monte Carlo, and the Bayerische Staatsoper; Micaëla (Carmen) at the Royal Opera House and Marguerite in Faust at the Vienna Staatsoper, the Royal Opera House, and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. She was also a featured artist at the annual Adventskonzert in Dresden, broadcast on ZDF in Europe.

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 Reims and Versailles; and Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea) and Poppea (Agrippina) in Lille and Dijon with conductor Emmanuelle Haim.

Education and Accolades
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 Newcomer of the Year (Singer) at the 2015 ECHO Klassik Awards and received the Special Prize of the Les Amis du Festival for her performance of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, at the Academy of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence (2007). Sonya has also been awarded several scholarships provided by several Swiss Foundations including "Mosetti" and "Hablitzel."

Sonya Yoncheva is also a first prizewinner of numerous competitions in her home country of Bulgaria: "Competition for Bulgarian Classical Music" in 2000 and "Competition for German and Austrian Classical Music" in 2001. 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.

Yoncheva records exclusively for Sony Classical, and is featured on a solo Baroque album titled Handel, in addition to her debut solo album Paris, mon amour, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and several recordings on DVD/Blu-Ray. In February 2018 her new solo CD The Verdi Album will be released. Her discography also includes CD recordings of Le nozze di Figaro (Contessa) for Deutsche Gramophone and Handel's Messiah with the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Sonya Yoncheva is a global ambassador for Rolex.

About Domingo Hindoyan, Conductor

As one of today's most exciting young conductors, Domingo enjoys a vibrant career leading internationally acclaimed ensembles including The Metropolitan Opera, the Mariinsky Theatre, Staatsoper Berlin, Opernhaus Zu?rich, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, Dresdner Philharmonie, Malmo? Symphony Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Lie?ge, and Simo?n Boli?var Symphony Orchestra.

Starting from the 2019/20 season, Domingo will serve as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2018/19 season, Domingo conducts, amongst others, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. Equally busy on the opera stage, Domingo makes a series of significant debuts: Wiener Staatsoper (Turandot), Lyric Opera of Chicago (La bohe?me), Royal Swedish Opera (Aida) and Liceu Barcelona (Luisa Miller). He returns to Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin to conduct Tosca.

Last season, Domingo made acclaimed debuts at The Metropolitan Opera (L'elisir d'amore), the Mariinsky Theatre (La bohe?me), Oper Stuttgart (Tosca), Semperoper Dresden (La traviata) and Ope?ra de Monte-Carlo (I puritani). He also returned to Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin with La traviata and Orfeo ed Euridice.

Recent symphonic highlights included guest engagements with the Dresden Philharmonic, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre National de Belgique, Istanbul Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra and Malmo? Symphony Orchestra.

>From 2013-2016, Domingo was the first assistant to Daniel Barenboim at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin. Since then, he has become a prominent guest conductor in the house, having conducted a vast array of works including La Traviata, Tosca, L'Elisir d'Amore, La bohe?me, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Rake's Progress, Orfeo ed Euridice and The Rite of Spring (ballet).

Domingo was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He began his music studies as a violinist and member of the renowned Venezuelan musical education program El Sistema. He went on to study conducting in Europe at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Gene?ve with Professor Laurent Gay.