Sofia Wyner Chiarandini

Violin, Bass

Sofia Wyner Chiarandini

Contact

Cambridge, MA
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sofiachiarandini.com

Sofía Chiarandini is a musician based out of New England. She has been playing violin since age five, and at age fourteen decided to dive into the world of bluegrass. Sofía studied with Grammy award winning fiddle and dobro player and notable author Stacy Phillips, who was her mentor and main source of inspiration in the non-classical world. She has been playing double bass since she was nine, and throughout childhood studied with Domenick Fiore, who inspired Sofía to diversify and study jazz as well.

Sofía started playing music using the Suzuki method, and quickly fell in love with classical music. At thirteen, she was awarded 2nd place in the Danbury Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition for her performance of Ravel’s “Tzigane.” She later joined the Danbury Symphony Orchestra as a first violinist for the 2014-2015 season, simultaneously playing for the Community Orchestra, in which she played bass for six years. After moving away from classical study, she branched out to perform in bluegrass, jazz, and folk genres, playing the main stages of major bluegrass and music festivals in the northeast with various ensembles.

At age seventeen, Sofía was accepted to the Berklee College of Music on scholarship, and was also honored to receive the Fletcher Bright award in her freshman year. During her time at Berklee, she studied and performed as part of the American Roots Music Program, as well as had the opportunity to study with musical heavy-weights such as Howard Levy of The Flecktones, Noam Pikelny, Stuart Duncan, Bruce Molsky, Tony Trischka, Greg Liszt, and Matt Glaser among others. She was selected as one of the sixteen participants for the Acoustic Music Seminar at the Savannah Music Festival in 2020. 

Sofía co-founded and performs in Boston-based modern stringband groups, including The Ruta Beggars, winners of the 2019 Thomas Point Beach band competition, and Jacob’s Ladder, a group blending contemporary Jewish music with traditional American roots music. She is also a member of Acoustic Nomads, a group combining North and South American folk and jazz elements to create a vibrant, modern sound.

In addition to her active performing life in these bands, Sofía frequently performs and does session work for other musicians, and enjoys sharing her joy of music by teaching workshops and lessons online and at her home in Cambridge, MA. Sofia has led workshops at Middle Tennessee Suzuki Association, Northern Lights Bluegrass Music Camp, Podunk Bluegrass Festival, Winter Village Bluegrass Festival, and Fiddle Hell.