Press

“Sonya Yoncheva, opera fans’s darling
Cheers, shouts of brava and standing ovations are guaranteed: Sonya Yoncheva, star of the Met, Scala, Paris Opera and Covent Garden and darling of the audience in Vienna, thrilled with her showpieces such as Puccini arias from “Tosca” (“Vissi d’arte”), “Le villi”, “La Bohème” or as an encore “O mio babbino caro”. Yoncheva shows dramatic power and luminous high notes. (…)”
KHR, Kronen-Zeitung
 
“Vienna State Opera: Yoncheva with an ideal partner
Applause for Malcolm Martineau on the piano and soprano star Sonya Yoncheva: great gestures and naturalness.
BY MARION EIGL
Giuseppe Martucci? This name is rarely found on concert programs in this country – a pity. Born in 1856, he was a pianist of international standing, a renowned conductor, composer and teacher, including of Ottorino Respighi. Martucci championed Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms in Italy. His own music found important advocates in Gustav Mahler, Anton Rubinstein and Arturo Toscanini, even after his death in 1909. Today, Riccardo Muti is one of Martucci’s advocates.
Martucci’s “Al folto bosco, placida ombría” from the collection “La Canzone dei ricordi” was part of Sonya Yoncheva’s Vienna State Opera concert. The Bulgarian soprano has already presented this Italian-tinged program in various venues. The obvious familiarity with the pianist Malcolm Martineau was the main added value of the evening. Martineau prepared the respective platform of sound for the singer, breathed with her, accelerated, slowed down, completely in harmony with Yoncheva. She knows how to fill even a large, empty stage with a pleasing mixture of grand gestures and naturalness.
Rarities and highlights
The most intensely shaped moment was Mimì’s “Donde lieta uscì” from “La Bohème”. Giacomo Puccini’s music dominated most of the recital anyway. Piano songs in the first half (by the same Giuseppe Martucci, by Paolo Tosti – the atmosphere in “Ideale” is beguilingly floating – and by Giuseppe Verdi), opera highlights in the second part.
Anna (“Le Villi”), Tosca, Mimì, Cio-Cio-San: Yoncheva’s voice was full-bodied, sounded sweet and appealingly bitter at the same time… .. As an encore, Carmen’s “Habanera”, Lauretta’s “O mio babbino caro” and finally Massenet’s Manon. No goodbye, but see you soon! Sonya Yoncheva will appear this season at the Vienna State Opera as Tosca, in a new production as Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and as Maddalena in “Andrea Chénier”. Her fans are already eagerly awaiting her return, as was evident from the standing ovations.”
Marion Eigl, Die Presse
 
“From lyrical songs to dramatic opera highlights
By Manfred A. Schmid
The Bulgarian singer begins her concert with Italian songs, as a warm-up for the Puccini arias announced after the intermission. Here, too, in addition to compositions by Paolo Tosti and Giuseppe Martucci, examples of the song oeuvre of the two titans of Italian opera, Verdi and Puccini, are on the program. Starting with four songs by Giacomo Puccini, which lead from the idyllic evocation of light and love in “Sole e amore” to the dream of the sea and wind in “Terra e mare” to desolate emotions in “Mentia l’avviso” (The promise was a lie), then the emotional outbursts in “Canto d’anime” gradually calm down again and fade away in bright, powerful tones.
Next came the song “Al folto bosco, placida ombria” by Giuseppe Martucci, a composer who is especially appreciated as a creator of instrumental works inspired by Wagner and Brahms. Martucci did not compose any operas, a rarity in Italy, but this piece from his cycle La canzone dei ricordi (The Song of Memory), powerfully set off by Malcolm Martineau with a lavish introduction, sounds quite operatic and, with its chromaticism, is reminiscent of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, at whose Italian premiere Martucci was at the podium. This song is very much in keeping with the feeling for drama that characterizes the opera singer Sonya Yoncheva, in addition to her sophisticated technique, and leaves a lasting impression.
A fixed star in the Italian song firmament is Paolo Tosti, without whose rich work the legendary Neapolitan folk music would be unthinkable. The song, “L’ultimo bacio”, short as a kiss, tells of sweet love and is movingly performed by Yoncheva with her gently radiant voice. In the following song, “Ideale”, the soprano enchants with breathtaking tenderness.
(…) “In solitaria stanza” (In a lonely room) comes (…) The last number, “L’esule”, begins with a long introduction on the piano, but soon turns out to be a colorful opera aria in miniature with recitative and concluding cabaletta, with which Yoncheva actually already perfectly leads into the second part of her program.
After the break, Sonya Yoncheva, previously dressed in white, appears on stage in a red dress with a train, scattering rose petals. Well prepared for the highlights from Puccini operas that follow. It begins with “Se come voi piccina” from the first act of the opera Le Villi, in which the innocent Anna is abandoned by her fiancé Roberto and dies of a broken heart. In this aria, filled with longing for Robert’s speedy return, she dreams of their life together. In the tender and thoughtful music, Yoncheva impressively explores Anna’s emotions, from cheerful contemplation to sweet anticipation of the delights of love.
“Vissi d’arte”, Tosca’s aria from the second act of the opera of the same name, is a heartfelt confession to art and asks why the diva is haunted by a cruel fate. Yoncheva is not a typical spinto soprano, but she creates this emotional outburst with deep inner brilliance.
After a solo by the pianist Martineau, marked by Hispanic rhythms and melodies, the Tango in D by Isaac Albeniz, Yoncheva brings Mimi’s touching declaration of love “Donde lieta uscì” to a timid and sincere blossom and ends the official program with the longingly performed “Un bel dì vedremo” of Cio-Cio-San from Madama Butterfly, a role in which she has already performed just as successfully in Vienna as she did as Tosca.
The enthusiastically applauding audience is rewarded with three encores, including a surprisingly fiery “Habanera” from Carmen. Of course, she will not be seen in this role at the Vienna State Opera. But we can still look forward to performances by Sonya Yoncheva in Tosca, Iolanta and Andrea Chénier this season.”
Manfred A. Schmid, Der Neue Merker

“an extraordinary palette of vocal nuances”
Jean Luc Vannier, Musicologie

Photo: Wiener Staatsoper / Michael Pöhn