Sonia Racine

Racine, Sonia

Sonia Racine. Mezzo-soprano, b Quebec City 14 Mar 1958; premier prix voice (CMQ) 1986. She studied at the CMQ with Rolande Dion and Janine Lachance, and later in Toronto and New York. Winner of the Prix Raoul-Jobin (1985) and of several competitions, including the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Performers (grand prize and first prize in 1987), she was a finalist at the Toulouse International Competition (1987) and at the Luciano Pavarotti International Competition (1988). In December 1988 she was invited by Canada's Governor General, Jeanne Sauvé, to appear at the 150th anniversary celebrations of Rideau Hall, the official Ottawa residence.

Sonia Racine has appeared regularly in recitals and concerts with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre métropolitain, the MSO, and I Musici de Montréal, under the direction of Guy Bélanger, Mario Bernardi, Richard Hoenich, Uri Mayer, Vittorio Negri, Simon Streatfeild, Michel Tabachnik, and Semyon Vekshtein. She sang Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder with the Orchestre métropolitain under Mario Duschenes in 1988 and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with the OJQ under Tabachnik the following year. In 1991 she sang the title role in Carmen in a concert version with the Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marc David. She has also sung Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Charlotte in Werther. In 1989 she was awarded the Prix d'excellence de la culture for her performance of Dalila in Samson et Dalila that same year with the Opéra de Québec. In 1991 she was selected as 'soloist of the year' by the Communauté des radios publiques de langue française.