Sofia Gilchenok

 

Instrument: Viola

 

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Biography:

Violist Sofia Gilchenok is a student of Molly Carr and Yi-Fang Huang in the Juilliard School’s Pre-college Division, which she has attended since 2013. She also studies with Hsin-Yun Huang as a scholarship recipient of Jorgensen Outreach for Youth. Sofia is the Regional Director of the Central CT branch of the Back to BACH Project, a world-wide initiative to inspire love of classical music in the younger generations. Just recently her piano quartet was chosen as the Pre-college chamber group to participate in The Juilliard School’s ChamberFest 2019. In November, she performed the 2nd movement of the Brahms Sonata in E-flat major with pianist Peter Dugan on NPR’s From the Top. Sofia was one of only two violists to play Paganini’s La Campanella with orchestra, soloing with the Ocala Symphony in 2016, and has also appeared as a soloist with the Willimantic Symphony. She was chosen as the first place winner of the CT Bach Festival Solo Competition, the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Musical Club of Hartford’s High School Competition, the American Viola Society’s Solo Competition (junior division), and received a top prize in the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition. Sofia is passionate about chamber music and considers her three-year participation in Music@Menlo’s Young Performers Program among her favorite musical experiences. Sofia is a From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist and a Virtu Foundation Scholar.