Sonia PrinaContralto

Photo Gallery

Highlights

  • Verdi: Falstaff (Quickly) – Parma Verdi Festival, Teatro Regio Turin
  • Verdi: Luisa Miller (Federica) – Liceu Barcelona
  • Rossini: La Pietra del paragone (Clarice) – Paris Châtelet
  • Mozart: Ascanio in Alba (title role) – Salzburg Festival
  • Gluck: Ezio (title role) – Frankfurt Opera
  • Vivaldi: Ottone in villa (title role) · Orlando furioso (title role) – Teatro La Fenice
  • Handel: Rinaldo (title role) – Teatro alla Scala, Glyndebourne Festival, Zurich Opera
  • Handel: Giulio Cesare (title role, Tolomeo) – Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Köln Opera
  • Handel: Orlando (title role) – Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Sydney Opera House
  • Handel: Alcina (Bradamante) – Paris, Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Bordeaux
  • Handel: Messiah – Musikverein Vienna, Paris Philharmonie
  • Handel: Ariodante (Polinesso) – Aix-en-Provence Festival
  • Handel: Serse (Amastre) – San Francisco Opera

Naturally the sensitivity, sweetness, mellowness and depth of expression of Sonia here are little short of miraculous, and her pronunciation of Latin has a flavour all its own. (forumopera.com)

Biography

Sonia Prina quickly established herself as one of the leading contraltos of her generation. After graduating in singing and trumpet from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, she was admitted at the Academy of Young Singers of the Teatro alla Scala.

She made her operatic stage debut at the Scala at only 23 years old as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia conducted by Riccardo Chailly and featuring young Juan Diego Flórez as Almaviva.

Thanks to her unique voice Sonia received international recognition and won several prizes including The Italian music critics’ Prize “Franco Abbiati” in 2006 and the “Tiberini d’Oro” Prize in 2014 both naming her “Best Singer of the Year”.

Career highlights include the title roles in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba (Salzburg Festival) and in Gluck’s Ezio (Frankfurt Opera). She was Clarice in Rossini’s Pietra del paragone (Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris) and Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri (Teatro Regio, Turin). She performed La Resurrezione with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Emmanuelle Haïm, Mozart’s Requiem with Antonio Pappano at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms.

Particularly fond of Handel, Sonia sang the title roles in Giulio Cesare (Paris, Dresden, Turin), Orlando (Sydney, Paris, Dresden), Tamerlano (Munich), Amadigi (Naples), Rinaldo (Zurich, Milan, Glyndebourne), Silla (Rome, Bucharest, Yokohama). She also performed as Bradamante in Alcina (Paris, Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Bordeaux), Polinesso in Ariodante (Aix-en-Provence, Barcelona, San Francisco), Bertarido in Rodelinda (London, Vienna), Goffredo in Rinaldo (Chicago), Amastre in Serse (San Francisco, Houston), Galatea in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo (Brussels, Bucharest, London). She sang Handel’s Messiah at the Musikverein Vienna under the baton of Erwin Ortner and at the Paris Philharmonie under Hervé Niquet.

Other Baroque highlights are Vivaldi’s Farnace (Madrid, Venice) and Teuzzone (Liceu, Barcelona) with Jordi Savall, Ottone in villa with Diego Fasolis (La Fenice), Juditha Triumphans with Jean-Christophe Spinosi (Paris Théâtre des Champs-Elysées), Scarlatti’s Vergine addolorata under Fabio Biondi (Staatsoper Berlin) and Hasse’s Semele with Claudio Osele (Theater an der Wien).

In addition to the Baroque period, Sonia Prina has distinguished herself in Romantic and post-Romantic repertoire. She sang Mistress Quickly in Falstaff with conductors Donato Renzetti and Riccardo Frizza (Berlin, Parma, Turin); Smeton in Anna Bolena (Barcelona) alongside Edita Gruberová and Elina Garanca; La Maman, La Tasse chinoise, La Libellule in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Palermo and Naples); Federica in Luisa Miller (Barcelona). Under the guidance of Zubin Mehta, she appeared in the world premiere of Chansons populaires pour voix et petit ensemble by contemporary French composer Marc-André Dalbavie for the Florence Opera.

In 2017/2018, she was artist-in-residence at London Wigmore Hall where she has been re-invited year after year since 2012.

Sonia’s vast discography includes several works by Handel – Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, La Resurrezione (Virgin,) Lotario (DHM), Rodelinda (Deutsche Grammophon), Ezio (Erato) – and by Vivaldi: La Senna festeggiante, L’Olimpiade, the title role in Ottone in villa and the solo album “Arie Ritrovate” (Naïve). Sonia also recorded Monteverdi’s Orfeo (Erato) and the title role in Gluck’s Ezio. She appears in the following DVDs: Ascanio in Alba (Deutsche Grammophon) and Rinaldo (Opus Arte) in which she sings the title roles, as well as La Pietra del paragone (Naïve). For the label Glossa, Sonia released Handel’s Catone and Silla (title role), as well as the solo album “Heroes in Love” dedicated to Gluck which includes some world premiere recordings.

The 2023/2024 season will Sonia performing Matilda in Handel’s Ottone for the Handel Festival Karlsruhe and the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha triumphans in Cremona, both under Carlo Ipata. She will sing the title role in Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso in a Diego Fasolis/Fabio Ceresa production at La Fenice and Alcina in the same opera in Ferrara and Modena.

Media

Management Territory

General Management - World

Download

Biography - Photos