In addition to her work at the Mannes School of Music, Ms. Bonagura has quickly gained an international reputation as a premiere voice teacher and vocal technician. She maintains an active private studio catering to singers of a wide array of disciplines, including opera, classical, musical theatre, and contemporary styles. Specializing primarily in the Garcia operatic technique, a style that produced some of the finest singers of the golden age, Ms. Bonagura prioritizes a holistic technical approach designed to maximize vocal efficiency, allowing students to enjoy decades of healthy vocal artistry and freedom of expression.
Lauded for her “soaring dramatic soprano” her “gorgeous sound” and “parallel mixture of tenderness and fire”, Ms. Bonagura has performed throughout North America and abroad, with role highlights including Cunegoode in Candide, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mimi in La Bohème, Micaëla in Carmen, Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and La Princesse in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Ms. Bonagura enjoys frequent collaborations with contemporary composers, having created the roles of Princesa and Bambina in Car Crash Opera by Michaela Eremiasova and Jairo Duarte-Lopez, as well as the role of Mei in A Dream of Flight by Sarana Chou.