Sophia Werner is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School, where she studies with Laurie Smukler and Donald Weilerstein as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. She won the 2024 Juilliard Concerto Competition and appeared as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. In 2025, Sophia premiered Liam Cummins’ Violin Concerto—written for and dedicated to her—alongside Juilliard’s AXIOM Ensemble. She has also performed as a soloist with the Adelphi Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, among others. Her awards include Second Place in the 2025 Hellam Competition, the Bach Prize at the 2023 Stulberg International String Competition, and First Prize in the 2022 Adelphi Young Artist Competition. She has also attended the Verbier Academy as a soloist.

An avid chamber musician, Sophia has participated in The Perlman Music Program and Kneisel Hall, and in Fall 2025 performed with the Razuma Quartet as part of PMP’s Suncoast Residency in Sarasota, Florida. She is a founding member of the Karuna Quartet, which made its New York City debut at Alice Tully Hall this year. Her chamber music collaborations include work with members of the Brentano, Cavani, and Mendelssohn Quartets, and she has participated in masterclasses with members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, Shanghai, and Brentano Quartets, as well as Hilary Hahn and Donald Weilerstein.

As an orchestral musician, Sophia regularly serves as Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and David Geffen Hall. She has also participated in two side-by-side performances with the New York Philharmonic and attended the Aspen Music Festival and School as a Fellow in 2021.

Deeply committed to music education and community engagement, Sophia has served as a Teaching Fellow in Juilliard’s Ear Training Department since 2023 and as a Juilliard Gluck Community Engagement Fellow. This year, as a member of the Karuna Quartet, she will help lead an educational arts and music appreciation program for students at the Red Hook Art Project in Brooklyn, New York.

Sophia performs on an 1864 J.B. Vuillaume violin and a James Tubbs bow, generously on loan from The Juilliard School.