Sonia Prina

Sonia Prina studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan where she earned degrees in trumpet and voice. In 1994 she was admitted to the Teatro alla Scala’s vocal Academy for young singers and by 1997 she had begun performing operas with a special interest in Baroque repertoire.

Her rare contralto voice quickly became noticed on the international lyric scene. Nowadays Sonia Prina is recognised worldwide as one of the leading contralto of her generation.

Some of the highlights of her career include: Clarice in Rossini’s La Pietra di Paragone at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris; title role of Handel’s Orlando at the Sidney Opera House; title role in Handel’s Rinaldo at Teatro alla Scala in Milan; title role of Tamerlano in Munich; Ascanio in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba at Salzburg Festival.

Sonia Prina is particularly fond of Handel work and has sung title roles in these operas: Bradamante in Alcina at the Opéra de Paris staged by Roberta Carsen; Giulio Cesare (title role) in Lille with Emmanuelle Haïm staged by David McVicar; Polinesso in Ariodante under the baton of Harry Bickett in Barcelona and again in San Francisco Opera with P. Summers as conductor and staged by J. Copley; Bertarido in Rodelinda at the Barbican Center in London and Wiena’s Konzethaus with Alan Curtis; Amadigi (tile-role) at Teatro San Carlo in Naples conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini and title role in Silla in Rome Santa Cecilia with Fabio Biondi.

Other noteworthy performances have been in Monteverdi operas in the role of Ottone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea and Penelope in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria and recently she performed Messaggera and Speranza in Orfeo with William Christie in Madrid.

Under the baton of Jordi Savall she sang in Vivaldi’s Farnace in Madrid staged by Emilio Sagi and in La Senna Festeggiante in Bordeaux.

In the traditional opera repertoire she sang Smeton in Anna Bolena at Teatro Liceu in Barcelona with Editha Gruberova and Elina Garanca, Isabella in Italiana in Algeri
in Teatro Regio in Torino and, at only 23 years old, she debuted in Teatro alla scala as Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia at with R. Chailly and Juan Diego Florez as Almaviva.

She performs in recitals all over Europe, in South America and Japan, with important baroque orchestras such as Accademia Bizantina, Il Giardino Armonico, Le Concert d’Astrée,
Kammerorchesterbasel, Ensemble Matheus etc.

Her most important recordings include: La Senna festeggiante and L’Olimpiade by Vivaldi with R. Alessandrini (Naïve); Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with E. Haim (Emi/Virgin); Handel’s Lotario for BMG and Rodelinda for Deutsche Grammophon with Alan Curtis; in DVD projects we cite Ascanio
in Alba in Salzburg Festival and La Pietra di Paragone in Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Recently released: title role of Gluck’s Ezio and La Resurrezione of Handel for Virgin classics. Last recording is the title role of Vivaldi’s Ottone in Villa with Il Giardino Armonico for Naïve Vivaldi Edition and solo album Vivaldi’s Arie  Ritrovate with Accademia Bizantina for Naïve and a special project around Handel Lucrezia for Ludi Musici.

Recent and future engagements include:

Title role of Handel’s Orlando in Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris and in Lille; title role in Handel’s Rinaldo in Glyndebourne staged by Robert Carsen; Rinaldo (Goffredo) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Giulio Cesare (title role) in Ravenna, Ferrara and Modena with Ottavio Dantone and in Opéra Bastille with Emmanuelle Haïm, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in La Monnaie with René Jacobs, Amastre in Handel’s Serse in San Francisco with Susam Graham and David Daniels; Alcina (Bradamante) in Bordeaux with Harry Bicket etc.

Date
last edited July 2011