Sophie Solomon

Sophie Solomon is a singer-songwriter/violinist born in the United Kingdom, who fuses many different musical influences into her music. Sophie 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 said she was one of the most promising violinists of her generation she gave up the violin at the age of 16 because she "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." She studied History and Russian at Oxford University and while there developed a passion for other kinds of music such as Russian, klezmer, East European and gypsy styles and so spent a year living in the Russian Federation and travelled through much of Eastern Europe, absorbing new sounds and influences along the way. This lead 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 Sophie'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. Sophie's collaboration with Socalled - 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. Sophie became increasingly in-demand, lending her violin playing to the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Killing joke and Theodor Bikel. She has also taught at London's School of Oriental and African Studies and 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 May 2006 Sophie released her debut solo album, entitled "Poison Sweet Maderia" - an eclectic mix of klezmer, folk and pop and featuring the vocal talents of Richard Hawley, Ralph Fiennes and KT Tunstall. Sophie has appeared and worked with musicians as diverse as Martha Wainwright, Gary Lucas, Bacon & Quarmby, Luke Toms, The Real Tuesday Weld, Nayekhovichi, 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 Jimmy Sims (Jim e sims) Other Appearances As A Violinist: * Want Two * Another Run Around the Sun * Music From The Winery * Redbird Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.