Artists › Sophia Jaffé

Sophia Jaffé has been known as a brilliant violinist and accomplished musician in the classical music world for many years and has delighted both the press and audiences at home and abroad with her playing and musicality. Her powerful tone and her gripping yet sensitive interpretation, coupled with her warm-hearted personality, characterize her special charisma.

Born into a family of musicians in Berlin, she performed for the first time in the chamber music hall of the Berlin Philharmonie at the age of seven. Her path from child prodigy to grounded professional violinist was accompanied by prizes at important competitions: She won prizes at the Leopold Mozart Competition Augsburg 2003, the Concours de Genève 2004, the German Music Competition and the Concours Reine Elisabeth Brussels in 2005.
As a soloist she performs with renowned orchestras such as the RSB and DSO Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Chamber Orchestras Stuttgart, Munich, Heilbronn, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Bruckner Symphony Orchestra Linz, the Hallé Symphony Orchestra Manchester, the Symphony Orchestra Basel, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Prague & the Radio Symphony Orchestra Prague as well as the National Symphony Orchestra Brussels. She has performed with conductors such as Marek Janowski, Walter Weller, Zdenek Macal, Sir Mark Elder, Dennis Russell Davies, Michael Sanderling, Jakub Hrusa, Thomas Guggeis at the Berlin Philharmonie, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Herkulessaal & Prinzregententheater Munich, Cologne Philharmonie, Liederhalle Stuttgart, Cadogan Hall London, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Vienna Konzerthaus, Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg and numerous other concert halls.

Sophia Jaffé has performed at numerous international festivals: Ludwigsburg, Rheingau, Merano, Concentus Moravie/Czech Republic, Passau Music Weeks, Leipzig Bach Festival, Moritzburg, Delft, Reims and many more. Her wide-ranging repertoire with orchestra includes literature from the 17th century to contemporary works. In addition to interpreting the standard repertoire with the violin concertos by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Dvorak and Nielsen, her inquiring mind is constantly on the lookout for new discoveries. For example, she played the world premiere of the violin concerto "Words of the cross" (2010) by Slavomir Horinka and performed the late romantic violin concerto (1909) by Erich Jaques Wolff, a composer who was ostracized during the Third Reich.

In 2014, she released an album with the contemporary violin concerto by John Casken with the Hallé Symphony Orchestra Manchester, conducted by Markus Stenz, as part of a portrait CD of the composer. She also recorded Emil N. von Reznicek's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with the RSB Berlin under the direction of Marcus Bosch in cooperation with Deutschlandradio Kultur. She also performs concertos by Mozart's contemporaries such as Mysliveček and Rosetti. She is particularly fond of the violin concertos by Alban Berg and Benjamin Britten. 

As a passionate chamber musician, Sophia Jaffé continues to develop interesting concert programs in various formations. Her critically acclaimed debut CD with her long-standing chamber music partner Björn Lehmann was released in 2009 with works by Suk, Bach, Ysaye and Beethoven, and a CD with Brahms sonatas and the Romances by Clara Schumann will be released in summer 2023. Both CDs are published by the GENUIN label. Sophia Jaffé has been a professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts since 2011.

Violinists from many nations study in her class. Her students are successful at competitions and have been offered permanent positions in orchestras such as the Munich and Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestras, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, concertmaster and principal positions with the Nuremberg State Orchestra, Karlsruhe State Orchestra, Collegium Musicum Winterthur, Darmstadt State Theater and Chicago Lyrical Orchestra. Sophia Jaffé received her musical training first from her parents, then from Prof. Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam and Prof. Stephan Picard at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin.
 
Projects in 2023 included several sonata recitals with the pianists Björn Lehmann, Severin von Eckardstein, Hansjacob Staemmler and the Japanese pianist Nami Ejiri. Sophia Jaffé also gives master classes and concerts at the Allegro Vivo Festival in Austria and the International Mendelssohn Festival in Hamburg in the summer. She was also heard in various concerts such as at the Bebersee Festival, the Westport Festival of Chamber Music in Ireland and the Highgate Chamber Music Festival in London.