Sophia Bernitz is a Boston- based freelance violinist and violist as of Fall 2022. In May 2022, she completed her fellowship at New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, under music director Michael Tilson Thomas. She hails originally from Lexington, Massachusetts.
As an orchestral musician, she recently won a position in the second violin section of New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. She has served as Concertmaster and principal second of New World, The Orchestra Now (TON), Brookline Symphony and the Oberlin Orchestra, as well as a section member of Boston Philharmonic and a substitute with Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Charleston Symphony, Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, and Rhode Island Philharmonic, among others. Summer festivals attended include Spoleto Festival U.S.A, Festival Napa Valley, NRO, Brevard, Oberlin-in-Italy, and the Fellowship Quartet Program at Madeline Island.
As a chamber musician, Sophia has worked and performed with members of the Borromeo, Pacifica, Dover, Muir, Cavani, Jupiter, and Miro quartets. She curated a quartet concert entitled “Eurasian Folk Traditions” at New World Symphony, and played as a guest in the Wells Fargo Chamber Music Series at Spoleto Festival in 2022. Her most influential coaches have been Merry Peckham, Darrett Adkins, and Peter Slowik. She spent most of her childhood attending Kinhaven Music School, where she first fell in love with chamber music.
As an educator, she has trained taught at National Youth Orchestra 2 (NYO2) at Carnegie Hall Weill Institute in the summers of 2019 and 2022. She also is in the process of getting her Suzuki Certification, as well as El Sistema training. Teaching is part of her core value as a musician, teaching students of all ages. She currently teaches privately from her home.
She received her BM in violin and viola performance in 2016 from Oberlin College and Conservatory and her masters in violin performance in 2018 from New England Conservatory. Her principal violin teachers have included Kristopher Tong, David Bowlin, Peter Zazofsky, and Carlough Faulkner-Carroll. In a past life, she was a nationally ranked Competitive figure skater. She also enjoys jigsaw puzzles, knitting, coding, playing with dogs and singing.