Rising star soprano Sofia Fomina made a sensational debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in December 2012 as Isabelle in Laurent Pelly’s new production of Robert Le Diable. Shortly afterwards, she made debuts with the Bayerische Staatsoper and Zürich Opernhaus and was nominated by German magazine Opernwelt as Nachwuchskünstlerin des Jahres (Newcomer of the year), following her role debut as Gilda. Last season she garnered huge success at Bayersiche Staatsoper singing Oscar in a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by Zubin Mehta:

“A vocal discovery: Sofia Fomina’s Oscar was sang with a stunning silvery soprano sound, exhilaratingly beautiful her voice floated over the large ensembles” - Online Merker

In ¹⁶⁄₁₇ Fomina returns to Royal Opera House to debut Olympia Tales of Hoffmann and makes her company debuts with Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse as Berthe in a new production of Meyerbeer’s seldom performed opera Le Prophète and with Theater an der Wien as Aquillo in a concert performance of Adriano in Siria. Fomina also makes her debut with Orchestra dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for New Year’s Gala performances of Die Fledermaus and returns to Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Mahler’s Symphony No.8 and Beethoven’s Fidelio. She also joins the orchestra led by Vladimir Jurowski for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in London, Madrid, Valencia, Alicante, Dresden and New York, and for a performance of Mahler Symphony No. 2 in Toledo Cathedral with Teatro Real.

Born in Russia, Fomina studied at the Orlovsky Music College and the Gnesin Academy of Music, Moscow. Her career began at the Novosibirsk Opera Theatre, where she sang roles including Despina Così fan tutte and Susanna Le nozze di Figaro. She later joined the ensemble of the State Theatre of Saarbrucken where she sang roles including Queen of the Night Die Zauberflöte, Giulietta I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Zerbinetta Ariadne auf Naxos, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia and Gretel Hansel und Gretel. From 2013 to 2015 she was a member of Frankfurt Oper where her engagements included Onoria in a new production of Gluck’s Ezio, Nanetta in a new production of Verdi’s Falstaff, Queen of the Night, Sophie Werther, Blondchen, Zerbinetta and Musetta.

On the concert platform she has performed with conductors such as Vladimir Jurowski, Yuri Bashmet, Will Humburg, Georg Petrou, Konstantin Trinks, Konrad Junghänel, Rory Macdonald and Teodor Currentzis. In 2010 she was awarded a grant by the Wagner Association in Bayreuth and received an invitation from Vladimir Jurowski to perform Janáček’s The Eternal Gospel with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall. Her recent engagements include Marzelline in a concert version of Fidelio at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Mussorgsky’s The Nursery and Mahler’s Symphony No.4 on tour in Ferrara, Bologna and Frankfurt with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Gerald Finley and Vladimir Jurowski.

A dedicated recitalist, she is a prize-winner of the ninth International edition of the Mozart Competition in Salzburg and has performed in Japan, Latvia and Germany. Her repertoire includes lieder by Schubert, Mahler, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berg, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

Recent operatic successes include her debut Opéra de Paris as Blondchen in a new production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Jemmy Guillaume Tell at Royal Opera House. Last season she appeared to great acclaim as Blondchen and Oscar in a new production of Un Ballo in Maschera both at Bayerische Staatsoper. She also sang Carmina Burana in a New Year Gala Concert with the Czech Philharmonic and Jakub Hrusa and made her City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra debut in a concert version of Falstaff, conducted by Edward Gardner.