Biography

Education

Sophia studied at Westminster Choir College for her undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance. While at Westminster, she studied and Performed Pamina in Die Zauberflöte and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. She studied with Faith Esham and under her tutelage received multiple awards with the NATS association (1st place 2018)(2nd place 2019). While learning at Westminster, she won 1st place in the WCC Voice Awards competition. Summers during this time were mainly spent working at the Sploteo Festival USA in Charleston, SC.

She went on to study at Manhattan School of Music with voice teacher Shirley Close. There she worked with Tom Muraco in the Opera Repertoire Ensemble, performing as Violetta in La Traviata. Sophia also sang in the Contemporary Opera Ensemble, working with Miriam Charney and Lucy Shelton with a focus on developing techniques for learning new music. After Covid-19 hit New York, Sophia continued at MSM, performing as Dede in A Quiet Place by Leonard Bernstein while working with Kristen Kemp and Scott Parry in Opera Scenes. During this time, she recorded a performance of A Flourish of Green by Missy Mazzoli, joined the Baroque Aria Ensemble at MSM, and performed as a soloist with Camerata Nova conducted by George Manahan.

2023-Present

Recently, Sophia has been performing as a soloist with the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia and the LOTUS Project. She moved to Philadelphia post-graduation and has worked on personal ventures, like performing Lieder Recitals in preparation for the Hugo Wolf Akadedemie Liedduo competition of 2024 and applying to early music competitions. Both Early and Contemporary music inspire her and she has explored that in the past few years; perfoming as a soloist with Musica Tevere conducted by Rebecca Ostermann and pursuing the Spazio e Musica early music competition in Vicenza, Italy.

Programs

The programs that Sophia has participated include the CoOperative Young Artist Program of 2017, Musiktheater Bavaria in 2018, and the American Bach Soloist Academy of 2023.

Awards

1st Place in NY District Laffont Competition – 2022

1st Place in the 16th Spazio e Musica Competition – 2022

Participant in the Hugo Wolf Liedduo Competition – 2024

Specialty

Sophia specializes in particularly in new music preparation end memorization. Examples of this technique can be observed in recordings of Max’s Aria by Oliver Knussen and in the Liedduo Competition recording of “Es stürzt aus Höhen Frische” by Schoenberg.