Biography

Soprano Sonja Herranen is among the most exciting young Finnish sopranos. Her noble and expansive voice and natural stage presence has already received acclaim in many competitions and on various opera and concert stages.

In spring 2023 she won the Elisabeth Connell Prize International Singing Competition in London. Earlier in the same year she was awarded the second prize and the Finnish National Opera Foundation's special prize in the national Lappeenranta Singing Competition. In 2019 she won the second prize in the Savonlinna Opera Festival Timo Mustakallio Singing Competition.

In 2022 Sonja Herranen made a successful debut as the First Lady in The Magic Flute at the Finnish National Opera, where she also sang the role of Third Norn in Götterdämmerung in 2024. In the summer of 2024 she made her debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

Herranen is also a sought-after soloist in the concert field and has recently sung with notable conductors such as Tarmo Peltokoski, James Gaffigan and Ville Matvejeff.

As of season 2024/25, Sonja Herranen is a member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, where she could be heard in various productions and concerts, including the new production of Nabucco /Anna (Emma Dante/Bertrand de Billy), Parsifal /Flower maiden (Dmitri Tcherniakov/Philippe Jordan), and the new opera studio production of Der Freischütz /Agathe. In the summer of 2025, she made her debut as Liù in Turandot at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and sang Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 at the Bregenz Festival under Leo McFall.

In season 2025/26 she will again be on stage in a number of exciting roles at Staatsoper Berlin, including her debuts as Freia/Das Rheingold and Helmwige/Die Walküre (Dmitri Tcherniakov/Christian Thielemann), Eichelhäher/Das schlaue Füchslein (Ted Huffman/Simon Rattle), Eine Modistin/Der Rosenkavalier (André Heller/Christian Thielemann), Najade/Ariadne auf Naxos (Hans Neuenfels/Eun Sun Kim), Priestess/Aida (Calixto Bieito/John Fiore), Pamina/Die Zauberflöte, Clotilde/Norma, Voice from Heaven/Don Carlo, and Agathe in the opera studio production of Der Freischütz.

In addition, she will sing the role of Gerhilde in a semi-staged version of Die Walküre with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding and can be heard in various concerts and recitals in Berlin and throughout Finland.

In summer 2026 she will return to the Savonlinna Opera Festival to make her debut as Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro.

Sonja Herranen has studied at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre with soprano Heli Veskus, and privately with Dale Fundling.


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Management

General Management

Artist Manager
 
 
 
 Ingunn Sighvatsdóttir
Artist Manager
ingunn@orlob.net 
Mobil: +49-173-2 067 821

Repertoire

Repertoire Concert

Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Beethoven Symphony no 9
Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem
Haydn The Creation (Gabriel & Eva)
Mahler Symphony no 4*
Mozart C minor mass (Soprano 2)
  Requiem*
Respighi Il tramonto
Schostakowitsch 7 Romances op. 127*
Strauss, R. Vier Lieder op. 27
Verdi Messa da Requiem
Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder
 

Repertoire Opera

Mozart Così fan tutte Fiordiligi*
  Die Zauberflöte 1st Lady
  Don Giovanni Donna Anna*
    Donna Elvira
  Le nozze di Figaro Contessa Almaviva*
Puccini Turandot Liù*
Strauss, R. Die Frau ohne Schatten Falke
    Dienerin, Kinderstimme
    Hüter der Schwelle des Tempels
Turriago, T. Prinsessa Papupata (World Premiere) Petrus
Verdi Nabucco Anna
Wagner Das Rheingold Freia*
  Götterdämmerung 3rd Norn
  Parsifal Flower maiden
von Weber Der Freischütz Agathe*
 
*in preparation

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Press

 

Nabucco / Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin / 03.10.24 / Opern- & Konzertkritik Berlin
 

"Überraschend die volle Stimme der Anna von Sonja Herranen." 

Don Giovanni / Savonlinna Opera Festival / 11.07.24 / kulttuuritoimitus.fi
 

"[FIN:] The star of the evening was Sonja Herranen's Donna Elvira.[...] Her broad, firm, beautiful voice fills the vaults and plays effortlessly all the way to the stern." 

Götterdämmerung / Finnish National Opera Helsinki / 22.05.24 / jarijuhanikallio.wordpress.com
 

"the three Norns, daughters of Erda sung with timeless majesty by Maiju Vaahtoluoto, Jenny Carlstedt and Sonja Herranen" 

Götterdämmerung / Finnish National Opera Helsinki / 20.05.24 / onlinemerker.com
 

"Die sehr guten Nornen waren Noa Beinart, Niina Keitel und Sonja Herranen." 

News

On her way up
We are pleased to announce that young Finnish soprano Sonja Herranen, one of the biggest talents of her generation, is now a part of our main roster!

Sonja, who is a member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Berlin, can currently be experienced at her parent house as Freia and Helmwige in the revival of Dmitri Tcherniakov's RING under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann. 
Throughout the season Sonja will be taking on a number of further exciting roles in Berlin, including Pamina, Priestess and Agathe.

In addition, she will sing the role of Gerhilde in a semi-staged version of Die Walküre with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Daniel Harding in Rome and make her debut as Contessa/Nozze di Figaro at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 2026.
Ring at the State Opera Unter den Linden
We are thrilled that Sonja Herranen (making her role debut as Freia), Marina Prudenskaya (Waltraute in Götterdämmerung), Andreas Schager (Siegfried), and Mika Kares (Fasolt, Hunding, Hagen) will appear in leading roles in the revival of Der Ring at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, conducted by GMD Christian Thielemann, from 27 September to 12 October 2025.

Further information and performances:
www.staatsoper-berlin.de 
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