Press

“The warmest applause went to Sonya Yoncheva, who conveyed Fedora’s inner turmoil with no expressive heaviness and with a constantly flawless voice”
Angelo Foletto, La Repubblica

“Fedora divinely interpreted by soprano Sonya Yoncheva“
Januaria Piromallo, Il fatto quotidiano

“The cast was excellent, with Sonya Yoncheva in the title role, an extraordinary voice with great stage command”
Stefano Jacini, Il giornale della musica

“A true stage animal, Sonya Yoncheva owned the role of Fedora, fusing the character’s often unbelievable actions into a consistently compelling personal development, the gruff portrait of a tortured personality. With her rich and focused voice, the Bulgarian singer had little trouble to cut through the wall of sound coming from the orchestra pit. The tender “O grandi occhi lucenti di fede” drew a picture of hardly tameable romantic fire.”
James Imam, Oper! Das Magazin

“Sonya Yoncheva imposes herself as Fedora… . What expressive power in her incandescent voice, and how she moves us in the cries of the desperate final aria. She is Fedora.”
Stephane Gilbart, Crescendo

“The role of Fedora is a perfect fit for Yoncheva’s voice and keen sense of drama. Visually and vocally, the soprano was sultry and imperious. From Fedora’s first aria, “Quanti fior … Ed ecco il suo ritratto,” in which she expresses her love for Andrejevich, until her final outpouring of remorse and anguish over her role in the deaths of Loris’ brother and mother, she sang with exceptionally rich sound.”
Rick Perdian, Classical Voice North America

“Sonya Yoncheva, a striking princess who leads the dance from start to finish
The Bulgarian soprano’s debut is a constant delight. In the role of a woman first thirsty for revenge and then engulfed by passion – these two feelings combined leading irremediably to her death -, she presents an extraordinary dramatic and vocal commitment.
Although sometimes dressed in outfits that do not match her rank, she is, unquestionably, this Princess who does not shrink from extremes and finds herself trapped in them. From the first moments, she shows the necessary authority when accompanied by the cello, she uses these magnificent low notes in the opening aria “O grandi occhi lucenti di fede! “. At the start of the opera, she finds a way to unfold her singing in a mixture of tension and softness. She uses accelerations of expression and rhythm, accelerations that almost put her out of breath during the exaltation that accompanies Vladimir’s agony, and show that the artist is totally invested and ready, this evening, to all excesses. She knows how to hurl herself against the murderer of her lover to conclude in very beautiful low notes on “M’assistan la Madonna et i Santi. E cosi sia! “.
In Act II, she finds the perfect accents, a mixture of caress and authority, when she seeks to make Loris speak. While she uses the low register on “che faceste? or when she next converses with Gretch, it’s the inflexible Princess that we have in front of us.
She thus achieves the most difficult part, namely to make Fedora a Janus who “plays” love while preparing for death, and we lay down our arms when, after having played bewitching high notes on “Prova, dunque, questa tua grande innocenza”, she explodes in a sudden fury on “Eri tu? » then, after the departure of Loris with this « Infame! Più mi sfuggi! that comes out of her gut.
At the very end, when the Princess poisons herself, Yoncheva is absolutely heartbreaking. After sublime low notes on “Io muoio” and while the woman can finally escape from the ambiguity, the voice finds its calm and its integrity to die out quietly.
Finally, we find this incredible commitment in the two great duets where the two artists, (…) show us the balance of power, the love that explodes or the pressure that becomes imperious. In these passages, the fusion of the two voices is at its peak, the tension or the emotion at its peak. At the end of Act II, the elation of the two singers, literally overheated, out of breath, and giving in to any attention paid to the total integrity of their voices to give themselves body and soul, is staggering. Fedora is an opera that awaits such moments of paroxysmal abandonment and the complicity of the couple Yoncheva – Alagna serves them magnificently.”
Paul Fourier, Toute La Culture

“Sonya Yoncheva is more verista than a verista. She amazes first by the use of her body on stage, in her way of touching and feeling the letter of her future husband, like an apprenticeship of the imminent presence of this human being in her life, before learning that he will not be part of it. Homogenous throughout the entire range, she can take regenerating orchestral baths and impose, through her nuances, true affects made even more powerful on stage. A voice at its peak, a path guided by her phrasing, a magnetic presence, a breath that allows her the slightest subtlety: the Bulgarian soprano seems to be gambling her life, down to guttural low notes touching the heart, possessed by the guilt that gnaws her.“
Thibault Vicq, Opera Online

“Sonya Yoncheva was a great Fedora, with a marvelous interpretation of a role that requires important vocal means that allow, in return, the absolute brilliance of the soprano. She has those central notes: an excellent high register to which she soars with ease and a meaty, middle register of a beautiful color.”
Javier del Olivo, Platea Magazine

“Sonya Yoncheva gives the character of Fedora the sumptuousness of an amber-colored vehicle and the charm of a statuesque stage presence. The Bulgarian soprano sports a full-bodied vocal line, well-rounded in the middle notes and vibrant especially in the notes just above the staff. The frequent forays into the low register which in some cases seem almost to border on the spoken word, are then dealt with naturally, avoiding forcing or artifices to over-inflate the voice. The soprano is also striking for the care in delivering phrases to the other characters, through a phrasing that is always participatory and refined. So let’s take a look at the different souls of Fedora: from a desperate woman thirsting for revenge to a passionate lover who takes her own life to escape her sins towards Loris and his family. I was mentioning then, Yoncheva’s stage presence, who moves elegant and imperious since her entrance into the first act, is always sensual even when she barely holds back her anger for the alleged murderer of her Vladimiro, but also reveals a tender, almost maternal, in the final act.”
Marco Faverzani, Opera Libera

“Sonya Yoncheva takes on the title role with all the charisma of the Primadonna, gifted with a magnetic mastery of both the stage and her vocal instrument, in spite of a tessitura apparently low for her voice and yet constantly in control all way down to the frequent low notes bordering on the mezzo-soprano territory, which are always and in any case meaty and full-bodied.
Hers is a hot blooded and passionate Fedora from the very first aria “O grandi occhi lucenti di fede!”, in which however she manages to alternate great abundant volume with pianissimo whispered notes (think of the end of the verse “comincia un’altra vita in me “). Equally intense are the declaimed phrases, used with dramatic caution without ever being over the top, as in the heartbreaking finale “Dio di giustizia … Tutto tramonta, tutto dilegua”
Camilla Simoncini, GBOpera

“Thankfully Sonya Yoncheva is a credible Fedora. A beautiful timbre and physical attractiveness, a well-controlled vocal production, a nuanced accent rich with chiaroscuros, highlight the particularly multifaceted character, for which it is not enough to sing well. Her aria “O grandi occhi lucenti di fede!” is well sung with a beautiful high A sharp and pianos in “morendo” or the abandonment with which she sings with Loris in the second act duet, as well as the grieving prayer “Dio di giustizia”. In her singing she avoids all sorts of vulgar schmaltz and frenzy, highfalutin and overly emphatic declamation. In fact, the “oath” is expressed without rhetoric, even if certainly the endings of second and third acts come very close to the most exasperated realism. However, Yoncheva always sings with generosity, in the agitated breathlessness and then in the desperation of the beginning (of the opera), an anguished witness of Vladimiro’s death.
As she listens to Loris’s confession, her feelings unfold in a kaleidoscope of abrupt mood changes, and so she turns out to be quivering, horrified, shocked, stunned, distraught, angry, a sensual dissembler but then her love passion sweeps away all doubts. And in the end, with the arioso “Tutto tramonta…tutto dilegua” murmured under her breath, her suicide really moves us.”
Ugo Malasoma, Operaclick

“At his (Alagna’s, i.e.) side, Sonya Yoncheva portrays Fedora as a modern princess reigning from the top of a vast living room of a skyscrapers. Her acting expresses the range of emotions of a complex and tragic character, made famous by Sarah Bernhardt when creating the homonymous drama by Victorien Sardou. Vocally, her instrument is voluminous and dramatic, often invited to soar to the upper sphere of her range at full voice. (…) the tone remains unequivocally rounded. She deploys her tender and luminous colors in the soft and lyrical arias, in particular at the beginning and at its end of the remarkable and applauded performance, with the particularly moving swan song of her dying heroine.”
Vojin Jaglicic, Olyrix

“For this new production, the famous theater has bet on the couple Sonya Yoncheva – Roberto Alagna. Both singers displayed dazzling vocal form. The Bulgarian soprano seduced first of all with her stage commitment and her identification with the character, portraying a distant and authoritarian aristocrat, whose certainties gradually fade. (…) the voice, incredibly full-bodied and inebriating, well controlled throughout its range, is impressive in scope and power, with splendid sensual and voluptuous accents.“
Claudio, Poloni, Concertonet

“Soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Fedora lent her splendid voice to a character that requires low notes that are decidedly easier to achieve, compared to the great potential of the medium and high range that the beautiful Sonya possesses and to which she has accustomed us. However, she skillfully acquitted herself in the moments less congenial to her vocality, easily overcoming every obstacle in the low register, which is very frequent especially in some phrases.”
Natalia Di Bartolo, Operaeopera

“The famous “Amor ti vieta”, applauded for a long time by the packed hall, marks the beginning of a series of incomparable duets, in which Sonya Yoncheva, who carries alone, with charm and power, the first act, shone with him, whose l he growing intensity, from hope to tragic disappointment, leads the heroine to death.“
Jacqueline Dauxois blog (reviewing the dress rehearsal)