Sophia Stoyanovich, Bainbridge Island WA. 2023

BIOGRAPHY

Hailed as "spectacular" (Bernard Jacobson, Seattle Times) and an artist commanding "superb musical instincts, a lustrous tone, and exemplary technique" (Huntley Dent, Fanfare) American violinist Sophia Stoyanovich has captivated audiences since her 2010 debut with the Seattle Symphony, and performs internationally today in solo, collaborative, and orchestral roles.

As recitalist and soloist, Ms. Stoyanovich has performed throughout the United States and Europe. In 2026, she will make her recital debut in the UK with performances in Edinburgh, Manchester, and London. Winner of the New York International Artists Association First Prize, she made her solo recital debut in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in January of 2023. The following summer, she made her European debut in the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Wiener Opernball Orchestra. Her solo performances span a diverse spectrum of cultural institutions and curated series, including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series and Musicians Club of Women in Chicago; Great Music LA, the Crocker Art Museum Classical Concerts, and Encinitas Music by the Sea in California; the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), and the University of Washington Women’s Society Recital Series in Seattle; and Project: Music Heals Us, The Sonora Collective, New York University’s Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò Series, Music in Midtown, and the Next Festival of Emerging Artists in New York. Most recently, she was invited to perform Alban Berg’s Kammerkonzert at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City, in a collaboration with the dynamic rising conductor, Tengku Irfan.

Ms. Stoyanovich has distinguished herself with her leadership and sensitivity as a chamber musician. As a Fellowship Artist with La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, she has collaborated with artists including Carter Brey, James Ehnes, Clive Greensmith, Alexi Kenney, Anthony McGill, Tessa Lark, Cynthia Phelps, Masumi Per Rostad, and Caroline Shaw. In Europe, Ms. Stoyanovich is a recurring guest artist at the Rome Chamber Music Festival, held at Teatro Argentina in Italy, and has collaborated with members of the Berlin Philharmonic at the Zermatt Music Festival in Switzerland. Additional chamber music highlights include performances at the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival (Greenville, NC.), Olympic Music Festival (Port Townsend, WA.), Norfolk Chamber Music Festival Yale School of Music (Norfolk, CT.), Sarasota Music Festival (Sarasota, FL.), and the Aspen Music Festival (Aspen, CO.)

An active orchestral musician, Ms. Stoyanovich has performed under the baton of John Adams, Thomas Adès, Sir Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Jurowski, Susanna Mälkki, Kurt Masur, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Jaap van Zweden. For the 2024-2025 season, Ms. Stoyanovich performed as a member of the first violin section with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in Germany. Previously, she has toured with the Gstaad Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, Germany, and Denmark, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra in Germany, the Versoi Ensemble in Finland and the US, the Juilliard Orchestra in Finland and Sweden, and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States throughout the US, UK, and Russia.

A dynamic performer of the music of our time, Ms. Stoyanovich led as Principal Second of the Lucerne Music Festival Contemporary Orchestra in 2023, performing works including Mathias Spahlinger’s passage/paysage (1990), Tania León’s Indígena (1991), and Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson's Jim is Still Crowing (2022). As violinist of the Finnish-American Versoi Ensemble (praised for their “excellence” by The New York Times), Ms. Stoyanovich spearheaded the 2020-2022 Versoi commissioning cycle Juurilla, selecting and collaborating with seven emerging composers for a concert of new works at the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki. Her 2021-2022 recital tour of the West Coast featured programs devoted to American composers of today, including composers John Adams, Billy Childs, Jennifer Higdon, Patrick Stoyanovich, Christopher Theofanidis, and Augusta Read Thomas. An advocate for education in new music, Ms. Stoyanovich also has collaborated with the Kaleidoscope Ensemble for the Festival of New American Music, performing, adjudicating, and hosting masterclasses at Sacramento State University.

In June of 2024, Ms. Stoyanovich released her debut album with Bridge Records, Rue Paradis: Chamber Works by Patrick Stoyanovich. Praised as a recording of "extraordinary communication" (Fanfare Magazine), Ms. Stoyanovich was joined by cellist Aaron Wolff and pianist Derek Wang to record chamber music by American-Serbian composer, Patrick Stoyanovich. Ms. Stoyanovich previously collaborated with Wang on American Stories, a podcast that examines American identity through music in performance, illuminated by personal histories and reflections from guests of all walks of life. American Stories was awarded an Ensemble Forward grant through Chamber Music America.

Born to a family of artists, Ms. Stoyanovich grew up on Bainbridge Island, WA. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School as a recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship and the Dr. & Kassie Biros Neuman Scholarship. Additional studies include working with Chaim Taub at the Barenboim-Said Akademie Masterclass Series in Berlin during 2019, and with Anthony Marwood and András Keller at the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove in 2019 and 2022. Ms. Stoyanovich is a fellowship recipient and doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center under the mentorship of Mark Steinberg, and serves on the faculty of Hunter College in New York City. She performs on a 1930 Karl August Berger violin made in New York.

*Updated August 2025 – please do not alter or abridge without permission.

Photography — Antonia Stoyanovich 2023