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The Belgian soprano, Sophie Junker, got a Vocal Master Degree as well as a Teaching Degree in June 2008, at the IMEP (Institut Superieur de Musique et de Pedagogie) in Namur with both high distinction. She later studied opera course program at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating in summer 2011; her roles in their productions included Albert Herring as Emmie, Almeida's Spinalba as Vespina and during her final year Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites as Soeur Constance.and the title role in Donizetti’s Rita. She has taken part in varied master-classes with Jean Tubéry, Claire Lefilliatre, Vincent Dumestre, Noelle Barker, Daniel Ottevaere, Edith Wiens, Emma Kirkby, Martin Katz, Eugene Asti and Graham Johnson. Winner of the first prize in the 2010 London Handel Festival Singing Competition, she is currently studying with Yvonne Kenny. She is generously supported in her studies by the Worshipful Company of Salters and the Ann Driver Trust.
Sophie Junker’s operatic repertoire is diverse and as well as the more conventional operatic roles as Susanna in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Marzelline in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio, Serpetta in W.A. Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera, Serpetta in La Finta Giardiniera, Despina in W.A. Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Atalanta in George Frideric Handel's Xerxes, Euridice in Orfeo, Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Zdenka in Arabella and Sophie in Werther in scenes, she has also sung the role of Maria in Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story under the conductor David Miller.
In concert Sophie Junker has performed Schubert’s Mass in B flat with the “Concorde” orchestra, W.A. Mozart's Coronation Mass with the Pro Musica Orchestra, G.F. Handel's Chandos Anthems with the Handel Consort, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and many others. She sang in Belgium in various prestigious places such as the Namur Royal Theatre, The Studio of “la Monnaie”, Louvain’s Aula Magna, Liege’s Cathedral, etc. More recent performances include a part in Graham Johnson’s Ralph Vaughan Williams project, The Fairy Queen as part of the Barbican’s "City sings" concert, Coryphée from Gluck’s Alceste at the Cadogan Hall, a solo recital at the prestigious "Palais des Beaux-arts" in Brussels, a celebration of Schubert’s songs at the Barbican Centre, a recital of Robert Schumann's Lieder for the Oxford Lieder Festival, and J.S. Bach's Cantata BWV 201 at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. Further repertoire includes J.S. Bach's Christmas Cantata, Antonio Vivaldi’s motets, François Couperin’s Lecons and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.
Already in demand as a soloist, Sophie Junker recently appeared with The King’s Consort in performances of F. Couperin’s Trois Leçons in Valencia, Madrid and Santiago de Compostella. She was part of the Academie at this year’s Festival d’Aix en Provence and sang ‘Diana of Hunting’ in J.S. Bach's Hunting Cantata (BWV 208) in concerts and a recording with Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan. Further engagements this season include the cover of Almirena in Rinaldo for Glyndebourne on Tour, Amour in Orphée et Eurydice with the Angers Nantes Opera, G.F. Handel’s Esther at the Göttingen Festival with Laurence Cummings, and a series of early music concerts in Spain. |
