Biography

Curriculum vitae Sophie Heinrich

Sophie Heinrich began playing the violin at the age of four and has been performing on stage ever since.
Important teachers during her studies included Prof. Antje Weithaas ( Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin) and Prof. Thomas Brandis, with whom she completed her postgraduate studies in the soloist class at the Lübeck Academy of Music with top marks and whose assistant she was until his death.

She received additional musical inspiration from, among others Gidon Kremer, Midori, Reinhard Goebel, Lothar Strauß and the Artemis Quartet.

Stages of the career path

Sophie Heinrich is the winner and prizewinner of several international competitions. In 2008 she won the Possehl Music Prize of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. In 2009, she attracted attention as the best German violinist among the final six in the semi-final of the ARD competition in the Herkulessaal in Munich. She has received scholarships from the Study Foundation of the German Peoplethe German Foundation musical life and the ZEIT Foundationand was an active member of the Yehudi Menuhin Association Live Music Now.

Concertmaster and violin soloist

From 2012 to 2019, Sophie Heinrich was first concertmaster of the Komische Oper Berlin. She has also regularly appeared as first concertmaster in orchestras such as the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, at the Bavarian State Opera, in the Dresden State Orchestra or the Staatskapelle Berlin. From 2019 to 2023, she was concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the first woman in the orchestra's history to do so. She is now a sought-after guest concertmaster for exclusive, selected projects and also leads symphony orchestras without a conductor (Play&Lead).

As a soloist and chamber musician, Sophie Heinrich performs regularly and gives guest performances at festivals in Germany and abroad. Recordings for 3sat, Takt1 ("Ein Heldenleben" with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra), arte, ORF, Deutschlandfunk, MDR, BR etc. document her skills as a soloist and chamber musician as well as a concertmaster.

In the 2022/23 season, she was the selected curator and artist of her own concert series at MuTh, the concert hall of the Vienna Boys' Choir, and made her debut with In Alma's music salon also in the narrative role. The project All about Eve which was realized with pianist Maria Radutu follows on from this, combining her own texts with music. In 2026, "All about Eve - die Moderne" will be launched at MuTh as a continuation of the project, which offers female composers a stage.

In 2024 Sophie Heinrich made her debut as a soloist with orchestras in Sofia, Skopje, Mantua, Armenia and Korea. In the 2025/2026 season, there will be further invitations to the Bregenz Festival and first appearances with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the "INSO-Lviv" Symphony Orchestra of Lviv National Philharmonic.

Mentor and speaker

Sophie Heinrich is a lecturer in violin and chamber music at theStella Voralberg Private College of Music in Feldkirch and enjoys giving international master classes, chamber music and orchestral courses.

Sophie Heinrich sees teaching and mentoring not least as encouraging young women in particular to be more courageous and self-confident, including in management matters. For example, as part of the Academy of " Lead! - Developing the Next Generation of Leaders in Classical Music" in Finland, where she has been working since 2022 as Jukka-Pekka Saraste as a regularly invited international mentor. In 2024, Sophie Heinrich took over the lead for the strings at the "Grafenegg Academy" in Austria.

As a keynote speaker on the subject of leadership, she is a regular guest at international congresses and symposia.