Sonya Yoncheva - Handel (2017) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Sonya Yoncheva devotes her second solo album to the music of Handel, showing another facet of her wide-ranging repertoire. Being an alumna of William Christie’s Le Jardin des Voix, the Baroque era formed her musical understanding at an early stage of her career, laying the foundation for her versatile & broad-reaching repertoire. Currently praised as “the best Traviata in the world at present” (Die Welt), Sonya Yoncheva is one of today’s fastest rising opera stars. She is a regular guest at the world’s leading opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin State Opera, Wiener Staatsoper & the Opéra de Paris. A great composer of vocal music, Handel based some of his most beautiful operas & oratories on the enchanting sensibility of the feminine voice. His heroines are strong, independent women determining their own destiny – attributes Sonya relates to in all respects. From Mar 3rd - Apr 18th, 2017 Sonya will embark on a concert tour featuring the Baroque repertoire highlighted on the Handel album release.

“the emotional balance of the programme favours Alcina, Cleopatra and Theodora’s songs of grief and torment, with a tendency to romanticise. Morgana’s skittish Tornami a vagheggiar, a showstopper in the theatre, is the highlight here: Yoncheva displays a delightful twinkle in the eye with her plush soprano, and negotiates the coloratura with pearly ease.” (Sunday Times)

TRACKLIST

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759)

Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act II, Scene 8
1 Se pietà di me non senti 07:50

Alcina HWV 34 (Act II, Scene 8)
2 Ah! mio cor! schernito sei! 11:24

Theodora, HWV 68, Act II, Scene 2
3 With darkness deep 04:13

Alcina, HWV 34, Act I, Scene 15
4 Tornami a vagheggiar 04:50

Rodelinda, regina de' Longobardi, HWV 19, Act II, Scene 7
5 Io t'abbraccio 05:36

Agrippina, HWV 6, Act II, Scene 13
6 Pensieri, voi mi tormentate! 06:38

Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act I, Scene 5
7 Non disperar, chi sa? 04:00

Agrippina, HWV 6, Act II, Scene 21
8 Ogni vento ch'al porto lo spinga 04:49

Theodora, HWV 68, Act II, Scene 5
9 To thee, thou glorious son 04:57

Rinaldo, HWV 7, Act II, Scene 4
10 Lascia ch'io pianga 04:29

Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695)

Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III
11 Thy hand, Belinda…When I am laid in earth (Bonus Track) 04:55

PERSONNEL
Sonya Yoncheva, soprano
Academia Montis Regalis
Alessandro De Marchi, conductor