Belgian soprano Sophie Junker studied at the IMEP (Institut Supérieur de Musique et de Pédagogie) in Namur, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Sophie is a Samling Scholar and winner of the first prize in the 2010 London Handel Competition and the 2012 International Cesti Competition.

Sophie’s operatic repertoire includes Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, Olympia Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Marzelline Fidelio, Serpetta La Finta Giardiniera, Despina Cosi fan tutte, Atalanta Xerxes, Adina L’Elisir d’Amore, Zdenka Arabella and Sophie Werther in scenes, she has also sung the role of Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story under the conductor David Miller. In her final year at the Guildhall she sang the role of Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites and the title role in Donizetti’s Rita.

Operatic roles include Israelite Woman in Handel’s Esther with Laurence Cummings at the Göttingen Festival, the cover of Almirena Rinaldo for the Glyndebourne Festival, Amour in Orphée et Eurydice and Constance Dialogues des Carmélites both with Nantes/Angers Opera, Italian Woman in Charpentier’s Médée for English National Opera, Belinda Dido and Aeneas for the Innsbruck Early Music Festival, Wanda La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein at Opéra National de Wallonie, Liège, Amour Orphée et Eurydice in Moscow, Proserpine La Déscente d’Orphée aux enfers at the Wigmore Hall with Christian Curnyn, Caio Ottone in Villa in Copenhagen and Euridice in Rameau’s La déscente d’Orphée aux Enfers in Holland with Lionel Meunier.

Concert engagements have included Mozart Coronation Mass, Handel Chandos Anthems and Pergolesi Stabat Mater, as well both Schumann and Schubert Recitals at the Oxford Lieder Festival. Sophie has also appeared at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge in a programme of Bach Cantatas and sang both Handel and Scarlatti Cantatas at the Innsbruck Festival.

Sophie’s discography include a recording of Charpentier and Carissimi with La Nuova Musica for Harmonia Mundi, Handel’s Esther with Laurence Cummings at the Göttingen Festival and Bach’s Secular Cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki (BIS).

Engagements in season 2015/16 include Castor et Pollux with Christian Curnyn in London, Drusilla/Virtu L’incoronazione di Poppea and Melanto/Fortuna ll Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria both with the Academy of Ancient Music under Richard Egarr at the Barbican Centre, in London and Bucharest, a recital at Oxford Lieder with pianist Deirdre Brenner, Cendrillon by Pauline Viardot at Liège Opera, concerts in Denmark with Concerto Copenhagen, St Matthew Passion with McCreesh in Switzerland, her return to Opera Lafayette to perform Cleis in Martini’s Sapho and Hélène in Chabrier’s L’éducation manquée in New York and Washington.