Sophia Kessinger, violin Co-Winner Khuner Young Artist Concerto Competition 1991-1992
Sophia Kessinger (violin) was our first place winner in 1992, the third year of the Khuner Competition. She had studied violin with Anne Crowden, founder of The Crowden School, the music-based middle school in Berkeley. She also studied chamber music with cellist Bonnie Hampton at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She was a member of the Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra for three years, 1995-1997.
After completing an academic degree at the University of California at Berkeley, Sophia obtained both a Bachelor and Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Mitchell Stern and Sylvia Rosenberg. She also studied chamber music with members of the Guarneri, Julliard, Amadeus, Cleveland and American String Quartets.
A successful a professional violinist in New York, she is a member of the first violin sections of the New York City Opera orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and performs regularly at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. She also performs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. (Resume updated by Concerto Committee in 2016)
