Sonya Yoncheva Sang Three 2017-2018 Met Opera Season Lead Roles

Summary: Bulgarian operatic soprano Sonya Yoncheva sang three 2017-2018 Met Opera season lead roles, as Puccini’s Mimì and Tosca and as Verdi’s Luisa Miller.

Bulgarian operatic soprano Sonya Yoncheva explored the ill-fated trajectory of her first 2017-2018 Met Opera lead role as Puccini’s fiery Tosca, opposite Italian operatic tenor Vittorio Grigolo in his Met Opera role debut as artistic, devoted Cavaradossi: Trafalgar Releasing ‏@TrafalgarRel via Twitter Jan. 23, 2018

Bulgarian operatic soprano Sonya Yoncheva sang three 2017-2018 Met Opera season lead roles, appearing as Giacomo Puccini’s Mimì and Tosca and as Giuseppe Verdi’s Luisa Miller.

Sonya Yoncheva’s first 2017-2018 Met Opera season lead role occurred in Tosca by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924). Her performance in the title role comprised her Met Opera role debut as Tosca.

Opening night Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, marked the Metropolitan Opera’s 951st performance of Puccini’s tragic love triangle. Opening night also launched the opera’s season premiere as a new production.

Yoncheva appeared in the title role in eight of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 15 performances. Her first appearance happened during the season premiere. Her seven additional performances took place during seven of January’s eight performances.

Sonya Yoncheva shared the title role with American soprano Jennifer Rowley and Russian operatic soprano Anna Netrebko. Jennifer Rowley appeared in the Friday, Jan. 12, 2018, performance. Anna Netrebko sang the title role for the six spring performances, offered in April and May.

Sonya Yoncheva’s Met Opera role debut as Tosca occurred in the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s new staging by Sir David McVicar. The Scottish opera and theatre director’s new staging replaced the production debuted by Swiss theatre and film director Luc Bondy’s (July 17, 1948-Nov. 28, 2015) during the 2009-2010 Met Opera season.

Sonya Yoncheva’s second 2017-2018 Met Opera lead role took place in Puccini’s La Bohème. She reprised Mimì, the Met Opera role that she debuted Nov. 14, 2014, during the Metropolitan Opera’s 1,264th performance of Puccini’s poignant bohemian opera.

Opening night Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, marked the Metropolitan Opera’s 1,306th performance of La Bohème. Sonya Yoncheva appeared in five of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s performances. She sang as Mimì in all three February 2018 performances. She also appeared in two of March’s three performances, including closing night, Saturday, March 10.

Sonya Yoncheva shared the role with Angel Blue, Anita Hartig and Elizabeth Caballero. Cuban-American lyric soprano Elizabeth Caballero sang as Mimì for the Friday, March 2, performance. American operatic soprano Angel Blue appeared as Mimì in all seven October 2017 performances, including the season premiere. Romanian operatic soprano Anita Hartig sang as Mimì for both of November’s performances.

Sonya Yoncheva’s Met Opera role reprisal as Mimì occurred in the familiar staging of her 2014-2015 Met Opera role debut. Italian film, opera and television director Franco Zeffirelli’s staging debuted Dec. 14, 1981, during the Metropolitan Opera’s 823rd performance of La Bohème.

Sonya Yoncheva’s third 2017-2018 Met Opera season lead role happened in Luisa Miller by 19th century Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901). Her performance in the title role comprised her second 2017-2018 Met Opera season role debut.

Opening night Thursday, March 29, 2018, marked the Metropolitan Opera’s 87th performance of Verdi’s sorrow-filled opera about a retired soldier who is powerless to protect his daughter against ill-fated love. The Bulgarian operatic soprano sang the title role for all seven performances, including March’s opening night and closing night Saturday, April 21.

Sonya Yoncheva’s Met Opera role debut as star-crossed Luisa took place in the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s staging. The Australian opera director’s staging debuted Oct. 26, 2001, as a new production during the Metropolitan Opera’s 70th performance of Luisa Miller.

In her three 2017-2018 Met Opera season lead roles, Sonya Yoncheva performed with four different conductors. For Tosca, French conductor Emmanuel Villaume conducted seven performances, and British conductor Gareth Morrell conducted one. For La Bohème, Italian conductor Marco Armiliato conducted all five performances in which Sonya Yoncheva sang. For Luisa Miller, French conductor Bertrand de Billy conducted all performances.

Sonya Yoncheva’s birthplace is Plovdiv, south central Bulgaria. She debuted Nov. 21, 2013, as Gilda in the Metropolitan Opera’s 859th performance of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

The takeaways for Sonya Yoncheva’s singing three 2017-2018 Met Opera season lead roles are that Verdi’s Luisa Miller and Puccini’s Tosca are Met Opera debut roles for Sonya and Puccini’s Mimì is a reprisal.

Sonya Yoncheva explored a third heroine’s ill-fated trajectory in her third 2017-2018 Met Opera lead role as Verdi’s Luisa Miller: SONYA YONCHEVA @sonyayonchevaofficial via Facebook March 21, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Bulgarian operatic soprano Sonya Yoncheva explored the ill-fated trajectory of her first 2017-2018 Met Opera lead role as Puccini’s fiery Tosca, opposite Italian operatic tenor Vittorio Grigolo in his Met Opera role debut as artistic, devoted Cavaradossi: Trafalgar Releasing ‏@TrafalgarRel via Twitter Jan. 23, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/TrafalgarRel/status/955809000708362240

Sonya Yoncheva explored a third heroine’s ill-fated trajectory in her third 2017-2018 Met Opera lead role as Verdi’s Luisa Miller: SONYA YONCHEVA @sonyayonchevaofficial via Facebook March 21, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/sonyayonchevaofficial/photos/a.519030404846977.1073741830.177574292325925/1629317267151613/

For further information:

“Debut: Sonya Yoncheva.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 355145 Rigoletto {859} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/21/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=355145

Marriner, Derdriu. “2017-2018 Metropolitan Opera Season Offers Five New Productions.” Earth and Space News. Monday, June 26, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/06/2017-2018-metropolitan-opera-season.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “La Bohème Is Feb. 24, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Feb. 19, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/02/la-boheme-is-feb-24-2018-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Luisa Miller Is April 14, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, April 9, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/luisa-miller-is-april-14-2018-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Tosca Is Jan. 27, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Jan. 22, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/tosca-is-jan-27-2018-met-opera-saturday.html

SONYA YONCHEVA @sonyayonchevaofficial. “ When I started working on Luisa Miller, I had so many doubts about her character. It took me time to really understand her. What I have discovered while being in her skin was beyond my expectations . . . A pure poetical soul, a strong woman devoted to her family and clan, faithful, trustful, courageous . . . She saw the death since the beginning of this tragic story, but she wasn’t afraid to embrase it and transform it into a next level of love. Verdi and Schiller on the stage of The Metropolitan Opera. Two giants to paint the passioned and short life of Luisa! We open on March 29th.” Facebook. March 21, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/sonyayonchevaofficial/photos/a.519030404846977.1073741830.177574292325925/1629317267151613/

Trafalgar Releasing ‏@TrafalgarRel. “Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo star in Tosca, one of the most eagerly awaited opera events of the year. Live in cinemas on Jan 27.” Twitter. Jan. 23, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/TrafalgarRel/status/955809000708362240