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The Croatoian contralto/mezzo-soprano, Sonja Runje, completed her Master’s degree in Opera Studies with honors at the Music Academy, University of Zagreb, with Martina Gojčeta Silić, after which she continued perfecting her vocal technique with Eva Blahova in Bratislava.
Although Sonja Runje specialized in 17th and 18th century repertoire, her repertoire includes a wide range of concert and operatic titles. After the exciting debut at Salzburger Festspiele in 2019, she opened her 2019-2020 season performing the roles of Bradamante in Antonio Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso in Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Megaron in Athens and Salle Seine in Paris, Disinganno in staged version of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Il trionfo del tempo e Disinganno in Opera National de Montpellier, as well as oratorios Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn in Szombathely and Varaždin, Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) by J.S. Bach in Athens and Belgrade, and a recital of Henri Duparc's art songs with the pianist K. Turkulin.
Besides Tolomeo in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto in HNK Ivana pl. Zajca in Rijeka and Savonlinna, her upcoming engagements in 2019-2020 and later are Bradamante in A. Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Cornelia in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto in St. Gallen, Albina in G. Rossini’s La donna del Lago in HNK Zagreb and Saaremaa and Teodata in G.F. Handel's Flavio in Bayreuth.
Sonja Runje performed in various roles in Croatia and abroad, such as Calipso in Nicola Porpora’s Polifemo, Isabella in G. Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri, Sesto in W.A. Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Badessa, Frugola and Zita in G. Puccini’s Il Trittico, Orlofski in J. Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, Sorceress in H. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Olga in P.I. Tchaikovsky’s Evgeny Onegin, Maddalena in G. Verdi’s Rigoletto, Mercedes in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Iviša in J. Hatze’s Adel i Mara, Smeraldina, Princess Linette and Princess Nicoletta in S. Prokofiev’s L’amour de trois oranges, …)
Sonja Runje often performs as an oratorio and concert soloist (previous engagements including J. Haydn’s Nelson-Messe, F. Schubert’s Winterreise, J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor (BWV 232), Maurice Duruflé's Requiem, B. Papandopulo’s Croatian Mass, Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.2, Felix Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, W.A. Mozart's Requiem and Missa Brevis in B, A. Vivaldi's Gloria and Stabat Mater, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, G.F. Handel's Messiah and Dixit Dominus, J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor (BWV 232), and cantatas Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen BWV 11 and Süßer Trost, mein Jesu kömmt BWV 151, Camille Saint-Saëns' Oratorio de Noël, L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9) with orchestras such as Armonia Atenea, Les Accents, Zagreb Philharmonics Orchestra, I Solisti di Zagreb, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Montenegro Symphony Orchestra and others. |
