Sophie Junker

Biography

Sophie Junker regularly performs with top-flight conductors including Harry Bicket (Dorinda Orlando), Laurence Cummings (Sigismondo in Handel’s Arminio, Aspasia in Alexander Balus and Michal in Saul), Christian Curnyn (Italian Woman in Charpentier’s Médée, Phoebe in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux), Masaaki Suzuki (Monteverdi’s Vespers), and Stefano Montanari (Zerlina Don Giovanni).

Described by Opera magazine as “… irresistibly charming”, Sophie already has an established relationship with the Opera Royal de Liège Wallonie (Elisetta Il Matrimonio segreto, Wanda La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein, title-role in Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon), and Angers-Nantes Opéra (Amour Orphée et Eurydice, Constance Dialogues des Carmélites). She made her American operatic début in 2016, singing Cleis in Martini’s Sapho and Hélène in Chabrier’s Une Éducation Manquée (Opera Lafayette, New York, and Washington). Further operatic roles include Caio in Vivaldi’s Ottone in Villa at the Copenhagen Opera Festival, Proserpine/Euridice in Charpentier’s La Déscente d’Orphée aux enfers (Wigmore Hall, The Hague), and Belinda (Dido and Aeneas, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik).

On the concert platform, Sophie is a frequent soloist with Concerto Copenhagen and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, La Nuova Musica under David Bates, Belgium-based ensemble Vox Luminis, Le Concert de la Loge under Julien Chauvin, Le Poème Harmonique under Vincent Dumestre and Arcangelo under Jonathan Cohen. She performed Bach’s Johannes-Passion with Collegium 1704 (Paris, Prague, Dresden and Dortmund), Haydn’s Creation with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow, Lully’s Grands Motets with the Namur Chamber Choir conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón, and Fauré’s Requiem under Klaas Stok (Amsterdam Concertgebouw).

Recently, Sophie Junker performed the roles of Cunegunda in Leonardo Vinci’s Gismondo (Vienna, Moscow, Dortmund, and Bayreuth), Venere in Legrenzi’s La divisione del mondo under Christophe Rousset (Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Colmar, Nancy, Versailles, and Cologne), and Eurilla in Handel’s Il Pastor Fido (Gliwice and Händel-Festspiele Halle). She made her house debut at Staatsoper Berlin singing Drusilla in L’Incoronazione di Poppea under Diego Fasolis. In Germany, she also sang the title role in Die Getreue Alceste by Schürmann conducted by Christina Pluhar (Rokokotheater Schwetzingen).

Sophie’s lithe and sparkling soprano has also been heard as Angelica in Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso (La Seine Musicale), Clori in Cavalli’s Egisto (Royal Opera of Versailles) and Asteria in Handel's Tamerlano with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra conducted by Christopher Moulds (Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow). In 2022 she makes her debut as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare under the direction of George Petrou (Reisopera and the Handel Festival in Göttingen).

During the 2022/23 season, Sophie will sing role of Atilia in a new production of Cavalli’s Eliogabalo staged by Calixto Bieito (Operhaus Zürich). She will also sing Atalanta in the revival of Clarac & Deloeuil’s production of Handel’s Serse conducted by David Bates (Opéra de Rouen Normandie). Other appearances this season includes tours of Vespro a san Marco with Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Bellezza in Il trionfo del Tempo with Academy of Ancient Music under Laurence Cummings, Mozart’s Great Mass in C with B’Rock, and Handel’s Apollo e Dafne with {oh!} Orkiestra led by Martyna Pastuszka.

The soprano’s discography includes Sacrifices with La Nuova Musica (Harmonia Mundi), Handel’s Esther with Laurence Cummings (Accent), Grétry’s L'Épreuve Villageoise (Naxos), Bach’s Secular Cantatas with the Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki (BIS), Stravaganza d’amore with Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon (Harmonia Mundi) and Cunegunda in Leonardo Vinci’s Gismondo (Parnassus Arts Productions). In 2020, Sophie’s first solo album, La Francesina, was released under the label Aparté. This publication won an International Classical Music Award as well as the Trophée Forum-Opéra.