Italian-American soprano Sonia Fortezza was born and raised in New York City, where she lives today. She recently completed her Artist’s Diploma at Montclair State University, where in 2025 she debuted the title role in Cavalli’s La Calisto and Monica in Menotti’s The Medium.

Sonia has been a young artist at the BRIDGES Vocal Arts Summer Intensive for two consecutive years (2025 and 2026), working closely with artists and teachers including Maestro David Rosenmeyer, Malena Dayen, John Norris, Beth Roberts, Anya Fidelia, and David Bizec. In 2025, she was also one of ten students invited to the Castleton Festival, where she honed her craft, practiced her German, and performed solo works as well as chorus numbers.

In 2026, Sonia debuted her solo recital, Between Heaven and Earth. In 2023, she made her Merkin Hall debut alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning, two-time Grammy-winning composer Caroline Shaw, performing Shaw’s Aurora Borealis. At Montclair, she covered Sœur Constance and performed Sœur Mathilde in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmélites (2024), directed by Malena Dayen. Earlier, she starred as Pernille in Dan Shore’s award-winning chamber opera The Beautiful Bridegroom (2022).

Her love of opera began early. From 2004 to 2011, she sang with the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus, performing in over a dozen productions including La Bohème, Tosca, Turandot, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, and Otello. She can be seen in the Met’s HD Live broadcasts of La Damnation de Faust (2008) and Hansel and Gretel (2009), which aired on PBS. She credits the late Elena Doria with inspiring her path in classical music.

Sonia earned her Bachelor of Music, cum laude, from Binghamton University, where she performed the Sailor in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and the Sandman and Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. She received the Emily A. Nielsen and Orville F. Nielsen, MD Music Scholarship for three consecutive years, and The Angela Lastrico Raish Scholarship from the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society for 2023-2024.

Her earlier training includes the Savannah Voice Experience Festival (2022), where she worked with Verdi baritone Sherrill Milnes and Jorge Parodi, and Si Parla Si Canta! (2019), with Benton Hess and Enza Ferrari. She has also performed in a masterclass with tenor Michael Fabiano. Her foundation began at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and the Queens Summer Institute. Sonia continues to study with Beth Roberts.