Soprano, Sonya Headlam is a passionate and dynamic performer and vocal artist. Her career has taken her all over the world, from South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, and she remains active in the NY/NJ area as a performer of vocal recitals, chamber music, oratorio, and operatic repertoire. She has been lauded for her beautiful sound and a special ability to connect with her audience.

Recent performances include appearances with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra as First Fairy in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a production that was in conjunction with the American Repertory Ballet, at the State Theater of New Jersey, as well as the soloist in Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony no. 1. Career highlights include her critically acclaimed American Affairs and Ecstasy performances with One World Symphony, in addition to a solo Christmas concert, which was webcast live from Trinity Church Wall Street in downtown Manhattan. In 2010, Ms. Headlam made her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Haydn’s Paukenmesse with Distinguished Concerts International New York. In 2009 Ms. Headlam made her regional opera house debut with Fargo-Morehead Opera singing the role of Musetta in La Bohème. Other highlights from that year include Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été with One World Symphony, and her debut solo performance in Kingston, Jamaica in a vocal recital that was attended by Jamaica’s Governor-General.

As a concert artist, Ms. Headlam has been a frequent soloist with New York’s “hippest orchestra”, One World Symphony, and has also been a featured soloist with the Greenwich Choral Society, the Bronx Orchestra, the Master Singers of Milwaukee, and the Willow Ensemble. Additional past concert engagements include Faure’s Requiem, Haydn’s Missa Brevis: St Joannis de Deo, The Messiah, Brahms’ German Requiem, and Mahler’s 4th Symphony.

Equally comfortable on the operatic stage, Ms. Headlam’s roles include Lakmé, Frasquita in Carmen, Musetta in La Bohème, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, Laurie in The Tender Land, and Lucia from Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. Ms. Headlam has also been involved in contemporary opera, and has performed roles in two world premiers: Michael Sahl’s Katrina, Voices of the Lost, featured at the Tribeca New Music Festival, and a reading of Richard Thompson’s The Mask in the Mirror in an event sponsored by New York City and presented by the City University of New York.

Born of Jamaican parentage, Ms. Headlam maintains close ties with the Caribbean where she has been active as a recitalist and soloist including a tour of Guadeloupe with members of the Cuban Philharmonic.

Ms. Headlam holds performance degrees from Miami University of Ohio, and received additional training at Mannes College of Music in New York City. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.