“Every time I heard Sophia play, I sat up and listened to her music-making. It’s truly gorgeous.”
Sophia Oehlers Maeda has made her mark as an oboist at a very young age. Sophia was named a finalist (no final round due to Covid-19) of the 2020 International Double Reed Society Norma Hooks Young Artist Competition. As a winner of this competition, Sophia commissioned and premiered Benjamin C.S. Boyle’s ‘Sonata lirica’ at the 2021 IDRS Virtual Symposium. In August of 2021, Sophia was named the winner of The American Prize for Instrumental Performance, college/university division. In May of 2020, Sophia also won First Prize and was given the Special Performance Award in the Quebec International Music Competition. Sophia has appeared with the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra and the Dark Horse Chamber Orchestra. She has been named a Fellow with the NSO Summer Music Institute for both the 2019 and 2020 seasons and has played at the Saarburg International Music Festival as well as the NYU Woodwind Institute. She was a teaching intern with the Symphony in C Youth Orchestra, and has worked as a recitalist, soloist, studio and pit musician both in Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Sophia has had three commissions written for her in the past four years and is a strong advocate for bringing new oboe repertoire to the canon. Sophia is currently studying with Peter Cooper at the University of Colorado Boulder.
