Contralto Sonja Runje is a sought-after oratorio and concert performer. Her engagements for the 2023/24 season include Egeo (Teseo) at the Handel Festival Halle, Teodata (Flavio) at the Theater an der Wien, Erenice in Caldara’s Il Venceslao at the Tage der Alten Musik Herne and the Eufonie Festival in Warsaw, Angelo di Giustizia in Galuppi’s Adamo at the Theater an der Wien and the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki, as well as the alto part in Messiah at the Nederlandse Reisopera.
Her repertoire also includes roles such as the title roles in Handel’s Amadigi, Giulio Cesare, and in Bononcini’s Griselda, Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Disinganno in Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Cornelia and Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare, Calipso in Porpora’s Polifemo, Acheloo in Steffani’s La lotta d’Ercole con Acheloo, Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Isabella in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Smeraldina in Prokofiev’s Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen, Frugola, Badessa, and Zita in Puccini’s Il trittico, Olga in Eugene Onegin, Mércèdes in Carmen, and Maddalena in Rigoletto.
On the concert stage, Sonja Runje has performed, among others, Bach’s Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio, St Matthew Passion, and his cantatas Wiederstehe doch der Sünde, Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, Süßer Trost, mein Jesu kömmt, Handel’sDixit Dominus and Il dolce tempo, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Stabat Mater, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Requiem and Missa Brevis, Mendelssohn’s Ein Sommernachtstraum and Elijah, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Duruflé’s Requiem, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Papadopulos’ Croatian Mass, Schubert’s Winterreise, Brouwer’s Canciones Amatorias, and de Falla’s Siete canciones populares españolas.
Sonja Runje regularly collaborates with renowned conductors such as George Petrou, Christian Curnyn, Ruben Dubrovsky, Benjamin Bayl, Martyna Pastuszka, and Aapo Hakkinen.
She graduated with honors with a master’s degree in opera singing from the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb under Martina Gojčeta Silić. She currently collaborates regularly with Eva Blahová in Bratislava.
