Orlando Furioso, A.Vivaldi Usher Hall
Edinburgh Int. Festival
Sonia Prina was outstanding in the title role. Her rich contralto fitted her masculine “trouser” role; her actions and facial expressions added feirocity at times and her extensive mad scene – one of the longest solo arias in the opera – was a triumph. Not a note out of place and nuances fully conveyed, especially in the finale.
EdinburghGuide, 24 August 2007
Orlando Furioso, A. Vivaldi Usher Hall
Edinburgh Int. Festival
Sonia Prina in the title role was completely absorbing, her rich and penetrating alto voice as wholesomely masculine as the role demands.
The Scotsman, 13 August 2007
Motezuma, A.Vivaldi
Theater an der Wien, Wien, Austria
Herausragend: Sonia Prina als Motezuma’s Frau. Prina trumpfte mit satten, virtuosen Koloraturen und dramatischer Gestaltung auf.
Wiener Zeitung, 8 October 2007
Motezuma, A.Vivaldi
Theater an der Wien, Wien, Austria
….als dessen Gattin Mitrena prunkte Sonia Prina mit prachtvoll – profundern Alt
und virtuosen Koloraturen.
Die Presse, 8 October 2007
Motezuma, A.Vivaldi
Theater an der Wien, Wien, Austria
Die Italienischen Altistin setzte mit ihrem dunkel schimmernden Alt, der vor allem atemtechnisch hervorragend gefuert wird, in jeder ihrer Arien zurecht begeistert akklamierte Hoehepunkte.
Magazin.Klassik.com, 6 October 2007
La Resurezzione, G.F.Haendel
Christ Church Spittalfields, London
Sonia Prina’s chocolatery contralto was a sinful treat, whatever divine message she was delivering
The Times, 31 January 2008
Orfeo, C.Monteverdi
Teatro Real, Madrid
Sonia Prina doubled as La Messagiera and La Speranza, singing with great musicianship and expressiveness.
Musicweb.uk , 13 May 2008
Oratorio a 5, G.Venier
Church of Peace, Sanssouci, Potsdam
Besonders die Altistin Sonia Prina begeisterte mit ihrer fast opernhaft – expressiven Vortragsweise – wie sie die Toene ihrer warmen Stimme den Zuhoerern zuweilen entgegen schleuderte, war enorm
Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 9 Juni 2008
Ariodante, G.F.Haendel
War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Italian contralto Sonia Prina, singing with agility and precision, made an impressive U.S. debut as Polinesso.
San Jose-Mercury News, 19 June 2008
Orlando, G.F.Haendel
Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Sonia Prina, as Orlando, had a brilliant vocal agility, recreating the fireworks of baroque virtuosity with exemplary precision from whatever unlikely position she was required to sing, and giving persuasive musical conviction to the mad scene. Her postured dramatic approach was serviceable.
Sydney Morning Herald, 20 August 2008
Orlando, G.F.Haendel
Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Heading-up a topdrawer cast of lovestruck lunatics is a star of the early music scene, Italian contralto Sonia Prina. Prina’s dark and strongly focussed tone is well-suited to this tortured military hero, and she assails the role’s massive challenges with the accustomed swagger of a singer who has made her career in baroque travesti roles such as this.
The Opera Critic, 18 August 2008
Orlando, G.F.Haendel
Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Italian contralto Sonia Prina, making her Australian debut, stunned with her strong warm voice, shotgun coloratura, superb musicality and emotional intensity in a dramatically demanding role.
www.aussietheatre.com, 18 August 2008
Ezio, C.W.Gluck
Theater an der Wien, Wien
Dominiert wurde die Konzertante Auffuehrung von Sonia Prina in der einstigen Kastratenpartie des Ezio. Schon bisher als exzellente Vertreterin des barocken Repertoires wohlbekannt, setzte sie diesmal mit einer grandiosen Interpretation buchstaeblich neue Masstaebe. Nicht dasss sie ihrem profunden Alt alle nur denkbaren Farben abgewann; atemberaubend war die Brillanz ihrer locker hingetupften Koloraturen und Diminutionen
Wiener Zeitung, 18 November 2008
Partenope, Handel
Teatro di Ferrara
..Sonia Prina riesce ad imprimere alla parte di Rosmira il suo carattere inconfondibile, seducente, musicale,personalissimo.
L’Informazione e il domani,12 feb 2009
Ezio, Handel
Teatro di Montpellier
..a spiccare erano il soprano argentino Veronica Cangemi e il contralto Sonia Prina…Sonia Prina possiede una voce dal timbro morbido e brunito e un’agilita’ estrema nei passaggi virtuosisitici, ma e’ anche stata capace di infondere spessore drammatico al personaggio en travesti di Valentiniano.
Resurrezione, Handel
Barbican Center
..while great Sonia Prina was vocally spectaculer and immensely moving as Mary Cleophas.
The Guardian 1 apr 2009
Sonia Prina was an outstanding Mary Cleofas, singing the bravura aria that Handel gives her in the first part of the opera no less than brilliantly.
Seen and Heard International
Arianna in Creta, Handel
Even better is Sonia Prina, who brings such gravitas to the sacrificial virgin Carilda that one wonders why it is Ariadne and not she who has the title role..
The Guardian 13 may 2009
Among the rest, Sonia Prina bubbled with dark drama as Carlida, the Athenian virgin who has a date with the Minotaur’s jaws.
The Times 13 may 2009
The role of the threatened Carilda, surprisingly allotted to a contralto, found an impressive interpreter in Sonia Prina, whom I had admired before in this repertoire. The voice is even and beautiful throughout its range, with a ring to its upper notes which made her flashes of temperament powerful and incisive. Prina was creative in her treatment of Carilda’s three arias. Formal in Act One, condemning inconstancy as to the manner born, in Act Two she sang the nimble number which forms a backlash after being rejected in love with increased confidence, then played the coquette with Alceste in the final act.
Ariodante. Handel
San Francisco
Although the great contralto Ewa Podles was forced to cancel her SFO debut as the evil Duke Polinesso, her replacement, Italian contralto Sonia Prina, scores a major triumph in her US debut. Sounding and looking so androgynous that you could easily mistake her for a countertenor, she voices impossible runs perfectly. Lacking only the astounding high Bs that make Podles a force of nature, Prina’s main challenge is to decide which of the many contracts that are sure to come her way she should sign.