Sonya Yoncheva

Sonya Yoncheva (Bulgarian: Соня Йончева, born 25 December 1981) is a Bulgarian operatic soprano. Born in in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Yoncheva studied piano and voice at the National School for Music and Dance in Plovdiv. During her teenage years, she hosted a Bulgarian television show about music. She 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. In 2009, she obtained her master's degree in classical singing from the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, where her teachers included Danielle Borst. Yoncheva was an invited participant in William Christie's "Jardin des Voix" academy for young singers in 2007. She has continued work in the baroque repertoire with Christie, and also with Le Concert d'Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm. Yoncheva was the female first place winner of the 2010 Operalia competition. Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera was in November 2013 when she stepped in as Gilda in Rigoletto, in advance of her previously scheduled official debut. In 2014 at the Met, she sang her stage role debut as Mimì (La bohème) in November and shared the role of Violetta (La traviata) in December. Yoncheva is featured on commercial recordings on the Virgin Classics label. In November 2013, she signed a recording contract with Sony Classical. She also appears in commercial DVD releases of Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Il Flaminio. Yoncheva and her husband Domingo Hindoyan, a conductor, live in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. The couple have a son, Mateo, born on 6 October 2014. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.