Sofia Gilchenok (23)

Sofia Gilchenok, musically described as “both stylish and entrancing” by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, began studying the viola at the age of 3 and is now a flourishing young artist. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Juilliard School under the guidance of Misha Amory and is a recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship. Sofia recently participated in the Kronberg Academy’s Viola Masterclasses working with Tabea Zimmermann, has served as the principal violist of Symphony in C since 2023, and has appeared with both the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and Manhattan Chamber Players.

She has had the privilege to work with many top artists, including Antoine Tamestit, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Roberto Diaz, and Teng Li, to name a few. In addition, Sofia has been featured on NPR and has appeared in recital numerous times at Lincoln Center. Sofia has also been featured as a soloist with various orchestras across the US and received first prize in many competitions, including the Adelphi Orchestra Young Artist Competition and more.

An extremely versatile musician, Sofia has performed with genre-bending and Grammy winning trio, Time for Three and Peter Dugan, Project: Music Heals Us, and was invited to join the Artosphere Festival Orchestra in 2022. As an avid chamber musician, she has performed with the Parker Quartet as well as members of the Brentano, Dover, and Orion Quartets, among many others, and will be an artist at Marlboro Music Festival in upcoming summers. Some of her past festival appearances include the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Young Artist Chamber Program, Music@Menlo, and Morningside Music Bridge.

A recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she held the Tobe Amsterdam Fellowship, Sofia began her collegiate studies early at age 17, studying with Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory for five years. She previously attended Juilliard’s Pre-College Program, where she studied with Hsin-Yun Huang, Molly Carr, Yi-Fang Huang, and Heidi Castleman.