
Sonja Runje
Mezzo-soprano Sonja Runje completed her Master’s degree in Opera Studies with honors at the Music Academy, University of Zagreb, with Martina Gojčeta Silić. She is currently studying with Eva Blahova in Bratislava.
Although she specialized in the 17th and 18th-century repertoire, her repertoire includes a wide range of concert and operatic titles.
During the 2018/2019 season she appears as Calisto/Calipso in N. Porpora’s Polifemo at Salzburger Festspiele, Isabella in G. Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri at Schloss Kirchstetten I’m Weinviertel festival, as La Badessa in Suor Angelica, Frugola in Il Tabarro and Zita in Gianni Schicchi in G. Puccini’s Il Trittico in the National Moravian Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, Czech Republic, as Albina in G. Rossini’s La Donna del Lago and as Iviša in J. Hatze’s Adel i Mara, both in Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. She also performed with Zagreb Philharmonics Orchestra, Croatian Baroque Ensemble and others.
She performed in various roles on stages in Croatia and abroad, such as Sesto in W. A. Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Smeraldina, Princess Linette and princess Nicolette in S. Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, Sorceress in H. Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus by J. Strauss, Tolomeo in G. F. Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, etc.
During her studies she took part in student opera productions as Orfeo in Ch. W. Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice , Olga in P. I Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Mércèdes in G. Bizet’s Carmen and as Maddalena in concert performance of G. Verdi’s Rigoletto, as well as a few small roles in Croatian National Theatres in Split and Zagreb.
Ms. Runje often performs as an oratorio and concert soloist (previous engagements including J. Haydn’s Nelson-Messe, F. Schubert’s Winterreise, J. S. Bach’s H-Moll Messe BWV 232, M. Duruflé’s Requiem, B. Papandopulo’s Croatian mass, G. Mahler’s Symphony No.2, F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s A Midsummer Night’s dream, W. A. Mozart’s Requiem and Missa Brevis in B, A. Vivaldi’s Gloria and Stabat Mater, G. B. Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, G. F. Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, J.S.Bach’s Mass in B minor (BWV 232), and cantatas Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (BWV 11) and Süßer Trost, mein Jesu kömmt (BWV 151), C. Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, L. van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with orchestras such as Zagreb Philharmonics Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Montenegro Symphony Orchestra and others.