Sophie Solomon

Sophie Solomon

Sophie Solomon is a British violinist, songwriter and composer (born June 6, 1978) who fuses many different musical influences into her music.

Early Life

Solomon began playing the violin at the age of two. At four she met Yehudi Menuhin and was taken to see the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. For the first five years she played totally by ear, learning to read music at the age of seven.

Even though the National Children's Orchestra and ProCorda heralded her as one of the most promising violinists of her generation, Sophie "was never completely satisfied by the classical world alone, I felt constrained by the fact that the music was written down and the strict parameters of the repertoire. I felt I had to step outside of that and find my own voice."

Sophie Solomon performing in Cambridge, March 2006

Education

She studied at Cheltenham Ladies' College, and later at University College, Oxford (University of Oxford) graduating in 1999 with a First Class degree in Modern History and Russian. She also holds an MSc in Economic History from the London School of Economics.

Career

During her time at Oxford, Sophie spent a year living in Russia, where she had a residency DJing Ragga jungle music at Kitai Gorod's Propaganda nightclub. Sophie developed a passion for the traditional musics of Eastern Europe especially klezmer and gypsy styles and travelled widely in the region, absorbing new sounds and influences along the way. This led to her becoming a founder member of Oi Va Voi who were described as “one of the most exciting bands in Britain today” by the Daily Telegraph. It was with this band that she rediscovered her love for the violin.

Famed for their live appearances and Solomon's on-stage pyrotechnics, the band's debut album ‘Laughter Through Tears’ received rave reviews, was voted in the top 10 albums of 2004 by the New York Times, and won them two nominations in BBC Radio 3's annual awards for world music.

Solomon's collaboration with Socalled (Josh Dolgin) - Solomon & Socalled's HipHopKhasene - with special guests David Krakauer, Michael Alpert and Frank London, a traditional klezmer wedding hip-hop style received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Album of the Year award 2004.

She became increasingly in-demand, lending her violin playing to the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Killing joke and Theodore Bikel. Sophie teaches klezmer music all over the world, most recently at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), the Royal Academy of Music and Weimar Conservatoire. She is on the artistic advisory committee of the Genius of the Violin festival, the only such event in the world devoted entirely to the instrument. In February 2006 she appeared alongside Roby Lakatos, Nikolaj Znaider and Mark O'Connor in the Genius of the Violin concert at the Barbican Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra, performing special orchestrations of her own compositions. Martha Wainwright made an appearance as Sophie's special guest at this concert singing Lazarus.

In May 2006 Solomon released her debut solo album, entitled "Poison Sweet Madeira" on Decca Records - an eclectic mix of klezmer, folk and pop and featuring the vocal talents of Richard Hawley, Ralph Fiennes and KT Tunstall. Her regular touring band comprises Ian Watson (accordion), Daniel Glendining (guitar/vocals), Grant Windsor (piano), Ali Friend (bass) and Stevie Pilgrim (drums).

She has appeared and worked with musicians as diverse as Gary Lucas, Bacon & Quarmby, Luke Toms, The Real Tuesday Weld, Nayekhovichi, Alan Bern & Brave Old World, Maurice el Medioni, the London Symphony Orchestra, th'Legendary Shackshakers, Hazmat Modine, Avishai Cohen, Yasmin Levy, Ludovico Einaudi, Marius de Vries, Kipper, Temposhark, Jon Thorne, Smadj, Ben Parker - formerly of Ben & Jason, Beshodrom and Jim E. Sims.

In 2006, Solomon was Musical Arranger on Lindsay Posner's critically acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof starring Henry Goodman, which is transferring to the Savoy Theatre on London's West End in May 2007.

In early 2007 Sophie premiered Wiesenberg's Suite Concertante for Klezmer and Classical Violins with Dora Schwarzberg & the Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra.

She is currently working on her second solo disc for Decca.

Releases

• Poison Sweet Madeira
  (2006)
  Decca Records
• Lazarus CD Single
  (2006)
  Decca Records
• Laughter Through Tears
  (2003)
  Outcaste
• Solomon&Socalled's HipHopKhasene
  (2003)
  Piranha
• Digital Folklore
  (2002)
  Voi Records
  (self published)

Contributions

• Fiddler on the Roof- Jerry Bock & Joseph Stein - Musical Arranger of critically acclaimed production @ Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, & Savoy Theatre, West End, London, directed by Lindsay Posner and starring Henry Goodman as Tevye, 2006/7
• World Premiere of Menachem Wiesenberg's Suite Concertante for Klezmer and Classical Violins, commissioned for Sophie by the Jewish Music Institute, performed with Dora Schwarzberg & the Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra, London 2007
• "Fools with Money", Luke Toms, Island Records 2007, produced by Marius de Vries
• The Invisible Line - Temposhark, 2007/2008
• Natureboy - Amanda Ghost, 2007
• Chagall Illuminated, a Spiel-commissioned project of animation & improvisation inspired by Chagall paintings, together with Max Reinhardt, Tamar Osborn, Ben Mandelson and Lemez Lovas, 2007
• Socalled Seder Live 2007
• Want Two - Rufus Wainwright, Dreamworks 2005, produced by Marius de Vries
• Music From The Winery - David Krakauer, Tzadik 2005
• Redbird - Heather Nova, V2 2005
• Another Run Around the Sun - Ben Taylor, Independiente 2005, produced by Bacon & Quarmby

Awards

• Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Album of the Year 2004 - Solomon & Socalled's HipHopkhasene (Piranha)
• Edison World Music Album of the Year 2004 - Oi Va Voi Laughter Through Tears (Outcaste)

Poison Sweet Madeira tracklist

1. "Holy Devil"
2. "Burnt By The Sun" (with Richard Hawley)
3. "Poison Sweet Madeira"
4. "Lazarus" (with KT Tunstall)
5. "A Light That Never Dies" (with Ralph Fiennes)
6. "Hazy"
7. "I Can Only Ask Why"
8. "Meditation On Dvorak's Slavonic Fantasy"
9. "Pin Pricks And Gravy Stains"

Trivia

• On Poison Sweet Madeira Sophie plays the Castelbarco Stradivarius violin and a Jacob Fendt made in Soho in 1834.
• Sophie was invited to be the guest speaker at Cheltenham Ladies College Speech Day in July 2006
• David Edgar (playwright) picked Sophie's Meditation on Dvořák Slavonic Fantasy as one of his Desert Island Discs in August 2006

External links

• Sophie Solomon Official website
• Sophie Solomon on Myspace.com
• Sophie Solomon audio interview Temposhark's Podcast series, May 2006
• Sophie Solomon interviewed at BBC Radio 3
• Sophie Solomon at Deccaclassics.com