Official Biography
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is a globally celebrated artist. The depth and exquisite color of her voice are matched by her dramatic acting ability and versatility across an remarkably extensive repertoire, from the title roles in Medea, Norma, and Tosca, to Leonora in Il Trovatore, Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac, and the title role in Rusalka. She is widely regarded as one of the premiere Verdi sopranos alive today, as well as the leading interpreter of Bel Canto, Verismo, and many others.
Radvanovsky begins the season 22/23 with a historic night at the Metropolitan Opera House. She opens the 137th season of the company by leading their long-awaited premiere of Cherubini’s rarely performed masterpiece, Medea, and making her highly-anticipated debut as the mythic sorceress in the title role. The Medea also kicks off the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series of the season with live transmission to movie theaters across the globe. She continues on the operatic stage with her iconic portrayal of the title role in Puccini’s Tosca at the Zurich Opera, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She then stars as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s opera Macbeth at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and for a concert version at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (Italy). She finishes the season on the operatic stage with a return to Zurich and performances of the title role in Puccini’s Turandot. On the concert stage, Radvanovsky embeds her recent journey in a solo recital entitled “From Loss to Love” at Carnegie Hall in New York City with pianist Anthony Manoli. The recital features an eclectic program designed in a highly personal context, with arias and art songs by Purcell, Händel, Duparc, and Strauss, among others. She also presents a world premiere of a song by Jake Heggie to a poem Radvanovsky wrote to honor her demented mother, If I Had Known. Other recitals bring her to Halifax, Canada, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and a gala concert at the Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
She has performed in every major opera house in the world, including the Royal Opera House, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zürich, and numerous others. Her signature interpretations of Verdi’s heroines include the title roles in Aïda and Luisa Miller, Elvira in Ernani, Elena in I Vespri Siciliani, Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlo, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, and Lina in Stiffelio, among others.
She trained at the Metropolitan Opera in the late 1990s in the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. After performances in smaller roles there, Radvanovsky caught the attention of critics as Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann and was singled out as a soprano to watch. On the concert platform, she has sung with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, both with James Levine; with the Chicago Symphony and David Zinman; with the San Francisco Symphony and James Conlon, and with the Bayerische Staatsoper and Zubin Mehta.
Radvanovsky’s debut recording, Verdi Arias, was released in April 2010 on the Delos label. The album quickly became a critical hit and made several season-best lists, including those of National Public Radio and The New Yorker. In 2011 Delos released a CD of Verdi opera scenes with Radvanovsky and her frequent artistic partner Dmitri Hvorostovsky to coincide with the pair’s return to the Met stage in Il Trovatore. The disc was recorded with the Philharmonia of Russia and Constantine Orbelian.
Radvanovsky is no stranger to the screen. She stars in a Naxos DVD of Cyrano de Bergerac alongside Plácido Domingo, and in Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera, Roberto Devereux, Norma, and Medea for the wildly popular “Met: Live in HD” series. She has also been an enthusiastic host for the “Live in HD” transmissions of La Fanciulla del West, Otello, and Francesca da Rimini.
Having witnessed her mother fighting against Lewy Body Dementia and Parkinson’s disease, Radvanovsky constantly advocates for awareness of brain diseases on various social media platforms. She is now an international ambassador for the world’s leading non-profit organization for dementia, through which she continues making significant impacts in raising public awareness and supporting medical research on this challenging disease area with hopes to discover the ultimate cure.