Sonya Yoncheva Announces Fifth Album on Her New Label

By Francisco Salazar

Sonya Yoncheva has announced her fifth solo album, “The Courtesan.”

The soprano will release the album on Feb. 9, 2023 on her own label SY11 Productions. The album will focus on the world of courtesans in opera.

The album was recorded last year in Genoa, Italy with the Orchestra dell’Opera Carlo Felice Genova led by Marco Armiliato and tenor Charles Castronovo. It features duets from “La Traviata” and “Thaïs” as well as arias from Puccini’s “La bohème” and “Manon Lescaut,” Giordano’s “Siberia” and Mascagni’s “Iris,” Leoncavallo’s “La bohème,” Saint-Saëns’ “Samson et Dalila,” Massenet’s “Manon” and “Thaïs,” and Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.” The bonus track “In Trutina” will be from Orff’s “Carmina Burana”

In a statement, Yoncheva said, “The world of courtesans has always intrigued me. I discovered their universe in my stage incarnations of some of them. Once I read the story of Veronica Franco, a courtesan who was also a poet, asserting herself in territories traditionally reserved for men: those of erotic casuistry and public debate. I was struck by this personality, who in her speeches defied a whole era that both idealized and degraded women, objectifying them. A warrior of women’s rights, who was offering her body for pleasure. What a contrast and what faith! Inspired by her path, I decided to realize this CD you are holding in your hands.”

Yoncheva has organized the recording of her fifth solo album and everything around it by her own company SY11 Events Ltd. The company was established in 2020 in order to produce her own concerts and has now also created the label SY11 Productions, where the album is being released.

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