Sophie Branson: Violin Class, Professional Program

Sophie is a student in the Professional Program. She has been studying violin with Liana Tretiakova, the lead violin teacher at the Zakhar Bron School of Music in Zurich, since 2011.

Sophie was born in Tokyo in 2006 into the family of a British mathematician and a violinist from Russia. At the age of four she joined the Zakhar Bron School of Music and has been been studying in the violin class of Liana Tretiakova ever since.

Competition Triumphs & Tonhalle Zurich Debut

At seventeen the young violinist is a prize-winner of the Astana Violin Competition in the memory of David Oistrakh and a winner of numerous national and international competitions in Switzerland, Italy, France and Latvia as a soloist, chamber musician and a baroque violinist. In 2022 Sophie debuted at the Tonhalle Zurich, having performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto K.216 with the Zurich Symphony Orchestra.

Violin Masterclasses with Renowned Soloists and Professors

Sophie regularly takes violin masterclasses with Professor Zakhar Bron in Interlaken, Salzburg and Zurich and also attends masterclasses of such prominent violinists as Maxim Vengerov, Daniel Hope, Sergey Ostrovsky and Esther Hoppe. In 2023 she received a full scholarship to take a course at the Liechtenstein Music Academy with Violin Professor Latica Honda-Rosenberg.

Early Competition Success & Orchestral Debut

At the age of eight Sophie became a prize-winner of the international competition Crescendo in Geneva, where in the final round she made her debut as a soloist with the chamber orchestra Soloists of Neuchâtel under the baton of Sergey Ostrovsky, and performed the Bach Concerto in A-minor.

Sophie Branson with her violin teacher Liana Tretiakova and Professor Zakhar Bron

Further Appearances with Orchestras

In the same year she appeared as a soloist with the Pskov Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Arif Dadashev (Moscow) with concertos of Bach and Vivaldi. Since then Sophie has appeared regularly as a soloist with symphony and chamber orchestras in Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Paris and London, where she has performed concertos by Bach, Mozart, Wieniawski and Sibelius and virtuosic pieces by Wieniawski, Sarasate and Stravinsky.

 
In 2018, Sophie participated together with Vadim Repin, Alexander Buzlov and Ilva Eigus in the world premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s Concerto Grosso “iGeneration” at the Trans-Siberian Art Festival. With the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, she also performed Stravinsky’s Italian Suite. Both performances received excellent reviews in “The Strad”.

At the Menton Music Festival 2018 Sophie performed at the Cocteau Museum as part of the Young Artists series. Since 2021, Sophie has been playing the violin made by Stefan Peter Greiner.

Sophie Branson YouTube channel