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Sonya Yoncheva partners with conductor Francesco Ivan Ciampa and the Orchestra dell’Opera Carlo Felice Genova for a new album titled ĪCŌN, the Latin word for “portrait.”
In a world where AI is becoming an increasingly tangible part of our daily lives and of the creative industries, Sonya has chosen a repertoire featuring some of the greatest bel canto masterpieces by Bellini and Donizetti to show that the authenticity of the score, the voice, and the performance will always remain inherently human.

Yoncheva invites us to look into our own image at the crossroads between the past and the future. Her message is that opera – and bel canto in particular – belongs neither solely to the era of early Romanticism nor to that of the late technological revolution. Rather, it is eternal, beyond time and space – just like the universal human emotions of love, sorrow, loss, longing, anxiety, and hope that it reflects and that have always accompanied humanity, including in times of profound social upheaval such as those we witness today.

For this new project, the Bulgarian soprano has chosen an innovative approach: each aria will first appear exclusively on Sonya Yoncheva’s YouTube channel as a video single, addressing significant themes of our time, reimagined through the legacy of the bel canto composers. These will form a series of episodes within a broader public conversation about our contemporary world, inspired by classical music. Each of the videos will be created with the assistance of artificial intelligence – though behind it stands a team of professionals – thus opening a space for dialogue between new technologies and art in a mode of coexistence rather than competition.

The first single is expected to be released next week. Follow here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheShlupy/videos

[Photo album cover: Michael Pöhn / Wiener Staatsoper]

On February 5 at the Opéra de Bordeaux, Sonya Yoncheva brings to the concert stage the intimate and poetic world of George, her celebrated album dedicated to the writer George Sand and the artistic circle that surrounded her. Conceived as a musical and literary journey, the programme weaves together songs and instrumental works by Chopin, Liszt, Pauline Viardot, Offenbach, Delibes, Tosti, and Leoncavallo, alongside spoken excerpts from Sand’s letters and from the poetry of Alfred de Musset.

Praised by critics as one of Yoncheva’s most personal projects, George blurs the boundaries between recital, salon evening, and theatrical narrative. Music and text are placed in close dialogue, creating an atmosphere of rare intimacy and emotional immediacy – a format that now finds a natural continuation in live performances.

The album has been widely acclaimed by the international press for its originality, expressive depth, and stylistic refinement. La Repubblica hailed it as “a triumph of mazurkas,” while Gramophone praised Yoncheva’s interpretation as “a fascinating achievement,” awarding the recording Editor’s Choice. Das Opernglas highlighted Sonya’s “full, finely focused, and expressive soprano voice,” ideally suited to the emotional world of George Sand.

With George, Sonya Yoncheva invites audiences into a richly textured Romantic universe – one shaped by friendship, love, literature, and music – and transforms it into a vivid, living experience on stage.

More information and tickets: https://www.opera-bordeaux.com/sonya-yoncheva-6423

[Photo: Victor Santiago / SY11]

On January 15, 2026, Sonya Yoncheva will sing her 50th performance of Tosca at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden’s season premiere of Puccini’s masterwork. The series of six performances, conducted by Giuseppe Mentuccia, will take place on January 15, 17, 21, 24, 28 and 30, all beginning at 7:30 pm, with Vittorio Grigolo (Cavaradossi), Christopher Maltman (Scarpia), Carles Pachon (Angelotti), Hanseong Yun (Mesner), Florian Hoffmann (Spoletta), Irakli Pkhaladze (Sciarrone) and Manuel Winckhler (Kerkermeister) completing the cast.

Sonya Yoncheva has starred as the Roman Diva around the world. Following her role debut during the 2017/18 season in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera, she has sung the part at the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Zurich Opera House, the Royal Opera House, London, the Arena di Verona, and the Caracalla Festival in Rome, as well as in Japan with the Rome Opera House in Tokyo and Yokohama. In her native Bulgaria, she has appeared as Tosca in Varna and Plovdiv.

This marks her third run of Tosca in Alvis Hermanis’s staging at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, following previous appearances in 2019 and 2024.