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The Italian contralto, Sonia Prina, began to study music at the age of 13 at 'Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi' in Milan and took certificates in trumpet and singing. In 1994 she won admission to the Accademy for young singers at 'Teatro alla Scala' in Milan.
In 1997 Sonia Prina began to focus on Rossinian rôles requiring a voice in the lower register, and on Baroque opera. She was Giulio Sabino in Il Giulio Sabino at Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna (M° Ottavio Dantone); Rosina in Barbiere di Siviglia at Teatro alla Scala of Milan (M° Riccardo Chailly); Isabella in Italiana in Algeri at Teatro Regio di Torino (M° Alessandro de Marchi); Smeton in Anna Bolena at Teatro Donizetti of Bergamo (M° Severini) ; Ottone in L'Incoronazione di Poppea at Teatro Comunale of Bologna (M° Rinaldo Alessandrini); Amadigi in Georg Frideric Handel's Amadigi at Teatro San Carlo of Napoli (M° Rinaldo Alessandrini); Pompeo in Antonio Vivaldi's Farnace at Teatro La Zarzuela in Madrid and at Opera National de Bordeaux (M° Savall); Cunegonda in Alessandro Scarlatti's La Principessa Fedele at Teatro Massimo of Palermo (M° Fabio Biondi); Speranza and Messaggera in Monteverdi's Orfeo at The Barbican in London (M° Emmanuelle Haïm) and at Monteverdi Festival in Cremona (M° Ottavio Dantone); Maria in A. Scarlatti's La Vergine dei Dolori at Teatro San Carlo of Napoli and at Teatro Liceo in Salamanca (M° Rinaldo Alessandrini); Galatea in G.F. Handel's Aci, Galatea e Polifemo at Salzburg Festival with Il Giardino Armonico (M° Giovanni Antonini). Among her other operatic roles: G.F. Handel's Orlando. She also sang symphonic and operas with conductors such as: Andretta, Bertini, Khun, Riccardo Muti, Panni, Rizzi, Vladimir Spivakov, Carella, Karabatcevsky, Bertini, Savall, Chung.
Sonia Prina gave concerts in Baroque music with conductors like Fabio Biondi, Ottavio Dantone, Giovanni Antonini, Emmanuelle Haïm, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Ton Koopman, Paul Goodwin, Alan Curtis in Italy (Teatro di Cagliari; Teatro La Fenice of Venezia ; Santa Cecilia of Roma; Orchestra Regionale Toscana; Arena di Verona, Auditorium Verdi in Milan) and abroad (Wien, Paris, Madrid, Luzern, Beaune, Graz, Bruxelles, Ambronay, San Petersburg, New York), singing works like Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater; Francesco Bartolomeo Conti's Il Martirio di San Lorenzo and David; A. Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus, Stabat Mater, La Senna Festeggiante, Gloria; G.F. Handel's Il trionfo del Tempo and Resurrezione; A. Scarlatti's I Dolori della Vergine, Oratorio di Santa Cecilia and La Santissima Trinità; J.S. Bach's Missa Brevis, Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) and Cantatas; Johann Joseph Fux's Te Deum, I Pellegrini al Santo Sepolcro and Il Fonte della Salute.
Sonia Prina made recitals with Accademia Bizantina in South America; Japan; Portugal and with Il Giardino Armonico in Ljubljana and Moscow. She made important recordings such as: Giulio Sabino in Giulio Sabino (live) with M° Ottavio Dantone; Smeton in Anna Bolena (live) with M° Severini; Pompeo in Farnace by A. Vivaldi (live) with M° Savall; La Senna festeggiante and L'Olimpiade by A. Vivaldi (Opus 111) with M° Rinaldo Alessandrini. She has also recorded Orfeo, and L'Orlando finto pazzo by A. Vivaldi.
Sonia Prina is also an acclaimed voice teacher. Among the singers who have studied with her and/or attended her master-classes: Raffaele Pé (Counter-tenor), Jennifer Schittino (Soprano), Raffaella Todde (Soprano), Sara Tommasini (Contralto/Mezzo-soprano).*** |
