Classical Classroom, Episode 76: MusicWorks – How Sonya Got Her Opera On

We're excited to share our new subseries, MusicWorks! It's a show where you'll learn about what classical music is doing in the world right now. You'll hear inspiring artist stories, plus we'll go into the sometimes unexpected places we've discovered classical music thriving while we've been learning about it on the Classical Classroom. We hope you dig it!

In our first MusicWorks episode, soprano Sonya Yoncheva tells the story of how she happened upon her passion – singing opera – by being true to herself (and listening to her mother) and by practicing her buns off. This put her in a position to be ready when she got that call from the Met to fill in at the last moment. And the rest, as they say, is in the podcast.

Soprano Sonya Yoncheva. Photo © Ruven Afanador. Courtesy of Ms. Yoncheva's website.

Audio production by Todd "Totally" Hulslander with awesomeness by Dacia Clay.

Music in this episode:

• Giacomo Puccini: La Boheme – Donde lieta usci
• Charles Lecocq: Les Cent Vierges, Act III, No. 10 Je soupire et maudis le destin
• Giuseppe Verdi: La Traviata – Sempre libera
• Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea – "Pur ti Miro" (Sonya Yoncheva & Max Emanuel Cencic)
• W. A. Mozart: Il Re Pastore – "L'Amero saro costante" (Sonya Yoncheva & Marc Minkowski)
• Charles Gounod – Faust Final Trio – Anges Purs – Sonya Yoncheva, Joseph Calleja & Bryn Terfel

For more about Sonya Yoncheva and her new CD, Paris, mon amour www.sonyayoncheva.com

Learn about composer George Heathco's piece, "ReGifting Lions", part of our MusicWorks intro, and oh-so-much more about him at www.georgeheathcomusic.com.