Sonya Headlam, soprano

Sonya Headlam

Soprano

"an entrancing soloist...

a perfect match of singer and score."

– South Florida Classical Review

Jennifer Taylor Photography

Biography

With a voice described as “golden” (Seen and Heard International) soprano Sonya Headlam performs music that spans centuries. Recent highlights include debuts with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and the New York Philharmonic. In the 2022-2023 season, Sonya made several notable solo debuts, including with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Handel's Messiah, her Severance Hall debut with conductor Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo's Fire, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the North Carolina Symphony. Sonya's repeated collaborations with Apollo’s Fire, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and The Choir of Trinity Wall Street have played a significant role in her career.

Upcoming highlights of the 2024–25 season include Sonya’s solo debut with the Summer for the City Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center singing Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and an aria from Joseph Bologne's L'Amant anonyme. Fall 2024, Sonya will return to the recording studio with the Raritan Players to record Trevor Weston's song cycle Reflections, a new commission. Additional highlights of the 2024–25 season include a meaningful return to her home state of Ohio to perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Akron Symphony Orchestra and her debut with the New Jersey Symphony, singing Handel’s Messiah.

Embracing Diversity in Repertoire and Performance:

Sonya fully embraces the challenge of performing a diverse repertoire—from ensemble to solo singing, and across stylistic periods ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary works. She finds it thrilling to connect with audiences in various settings, whether in sacred spaces, intimate recital venues, unconventional performance spaces, or grand concert halls and opera stages. Praised for her "genuine tenderness" (Chicago Classical Review), Sonya has a passion for uncovering and sharing the works of composers who may not be as well-known but have made valuable contributions to the musical world. Her Jamaican heritage has inspired her to explore and perform the works of celebrated Jamaican composers such as Peter Ashbourne and Andrew Marshall. Equally at home on the opera stage, Sonya has delighted audiences with her portrayals of characters such as le Feu in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte, and Musetta in Puccini's La bohème.

Recent Premieres, Artist-in-Residence, and Other Innovative Contemporary Projects:

In 2024, Sonya premiered the role of The Caretaker in Luna Pearl Woolf‘s photographic oratorio, Number Our Days (conceiver, librettist David Van Taylor), at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC). She also joined the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Friends for their dynamic new interpretation of Steve Reich's legendary 1976 work, Music for 18 Musicians, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2021, she premiered Patricio Molina's spiritual song Kecha Tregulfe at Carnegie Hall, marking the first performance of a song in the Mapudungun language on that stage. In 2023, Sonya was honored to be appointed as the Rohde Family Artist-in-Residence at the Chelsea Music Festival, where she performed a wide range of chamber music in non-traditional concert spaces, including a performance of Iman Habibi’s beautiful and effervescent Ey Sabā with violinist Max Tan. Other important innovative contemporary projects include her involvement in Yaz Lancaster's song cycle ouroboros, produced by Beth Morrison Projects; a role in Ellen Reid's dreams of the new world with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street at the Prototype Festival; participation in Tyshawn Sorey's Monochromatic Light (afterlight), directed by Peter Sellars at the Park Avenue Armory; and several performances of Julia Wolfe's Steel Hammer with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, including at MASS MoCA and Carnegie Hall.

Recordings:

Sonya is featured on the Raritan Players' latest recording, "In the Salon of Madame Brillon: Music and Friendship in Benjamin Franklin’s Paris," directed by historical keyboardist and musicologist, Dr. Rebecca Cypess. At present, they are collaborating once more on an album featuring the music of Ignatius Sancho and premiering new compositions by Trevor Weston.

Commitment to Music Beyond the Stage:

Sonya's commitment to music extends beyond the stage, as she is a church musician, educator, scholar, community volunteer, and published author. She was a full-time member of the Choir of Trinity Wall Street from 2019–2024, and she remains an auxiliary member, sometimes joining for Sunday services, Compline by Candlelights, 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. 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. Sonya’s article, "Inspiring the Next Generation: Navigating the Singer’s Path with Purpose and Resilience," which shares practical guidance for navigating the complex terrain of a singer's development and musical journey, was published in the June/July 2024 issue of the American Music Teacher journal.

Community Service:

In the realm of community service, Sonya dedicates her time and abilities to her local community. She has been a member of both the Equity Commission and the Human Relations Commission in her neighborhood, and she happily donates her singing talent to cultural events at the local, county, and state levels in New Jersey, including Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations. Sonya had a fulfilling career at UNICEF's New York headquarters before pursuing music full-time. She was also a member of the UN Singers, a staff recreational club that the UN Secretary-General has designated as ambassadors of goodwill who regularly travel around the world on missions to promote peace and understanding through singing folk music from around the globe. Sonya is a proud CME artist and ambassador at Notes for Growth, a charity that sources underutilized pianos and transports them for free to students and music institutions in the New York area and Latin America.

A Life in Music:

With consistent focus and dedication, Sonya has made music a central part of her life, achieving numerous accomplishments along the way including her critically acclaimed Jamaican debut, where she performed for distinguished guests such as the Governor General of Jamaica. She also earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she was honored with the Michael Fardink Memorial Award.