Sophie Kauer is 15, lives in Godalming and is a Year 10 Music Scholar at Guildford High School. She began cello lessons at 8 and achieved her Grade 8 Distinction aged 11. She attends the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music where she won the 2015 Junior Lower Strings Prize and is currently Principal Cello of the Sinfonia. Sophie recently became a private pupil of Melissa Phelps and Maria Zachariadou. 

Recent highlights have included being chosen by Guy Johnston as the winner of the ‘Musicale Search for a Cello Soloist’ competition and making her debut as a soloist with orchestra at the 2015 Harpenden Music Festival. She was also the recipient of the 2016 Guildford Spring Music Festival Bursary for musical promise and was offered a scholarship to attend the 2016 Astona International Summer Music Academy in Switzerland.