Soprano Sonya Headlam performs music that spans centuries, from the Baroque era to the present. As a soloist, she has garnered acclaim on prestigious stages across the United States. Recent highlights include her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah, her Severance Hall debut with conductor Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire performing Mozart and Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint Georges, and joining the North Carolina Symphony for Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9. She has collaborated with other esteemed ensembles, such as the New World Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, TENET Vocal Artists, and others. This season, Sonya looks forward to making her solo debuts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada.
Sonya’s commitment to music extends beyond the stage, as she is a dedicated church musician, educator, scholar, and community volunteer. As a soprano in the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, she is an integral part of the music ministry at the historic church in lower Manhattan, where she regularly sings Sunday services and participates in Compline by Candlelight, as well as the annual performances of Handel’s Messiah. Sonya has a passion for teaching voice to students of all ages, both at the university level and in her private studio, and she has also taught ear-training at Rutgers University. Her scholarly pursuits led to a visiting scholar appointment at Rutgers University in 2021, where she conducted research on the eighteenth-century composer Ignatius Sancho. Together with Rebecca Cypess, she presented a lecture recital on the life and music of Ignatius Sancho at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, and they continue to share their research on Sancho in various venues.