Sofia Larsson graduated from the Royal College of Music International Opera School, where she studied with Dinah Harris as the Ruth West Scholar. As the Drapers’ Baroness de Turckheim Vocal Scholar she completed her postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Distinction and DipRAM, studying with Philip Doghan and Audrey Hyland, after completing the ENO Opera Works training programme and gaining a first-class honours degree in Music from King’s College London.
During her time at RCM, Sofia performed the roles of Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Miss Wordsworth in Britten’s Albert Herring, Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante and Calisto in Handel’s Giove in Argo for the London Handel Festival. She performed the title role in Holst’s Savitri for British Youth Opera and covered the roles of Antonia and Giulietta for English Touring Opera’s production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. Previous roles also include Bastienne in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne for Grove Park Music Festival, Zerlina and Despina for Winterbourne Opera and the cover of Tartagliona in Jonathan Dove’s The Little Green Swallow for British Youth Opera. In scenes Sofia has performed the roles of Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, Marzelline Fidelio, Magda La Rondine, Angelica Orlando, Romilda Serse, Carolina Il Matrimonio Segreto and Blanche Dialogues des Carmélites.
Sofia performs regularly in concert venues across the UK. She was a soloist for the Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series at the Royal Academy of Music. Recent and future concert highlights include Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise under Bob Chilcott (Royal Albert Hall), Handel’s Messiah under John Lubbock (King’s Place), Bach’s St John Passion under Jeremy Jackman (St Johns’ Smith Square), Handel’s Theodora with Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque (Brecon Cathedral), Bach’s Cantatas 5 & 41 under Masaaki Suzuki (Royal Academy of Music), Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and Coronation Mass under Alexander Chaplin (St James’, Piccadilly), Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream under David Hill (St Nicholas Church, Newbury – Southern Sinfonia), Bach’s Weinachts-Oratorium under Paul Spicer (Lichfield Cathedral) and Haydn’s Creation under John Henville (Arundel Cathedral).
A keen recitalist, Sofia won the Elena Gerhardt Lieder Prize and was a member of Song Circle at the Royal Academy of Music. She has performed in Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral and Holywell Music Room as part of the Oxford Lieder Festival, Bristol’s Colston Hall, Bath’s Guildhall, Petersfield’s Festival Hall, London’s Queens’ Gate Terrace and Charlton House. A Britten-Pears Young Artist, she worked on Schubert song with Christoph Prégardien, Malcolm Martineau and Richard Stokes in Summer 2013. At the Royal Academy of Music, Sofia was awarded the Amanda von Lob Memorial Prize, the Andrew Sykes Prize and the Helen Eames Prize.
Sofia is incredibly grateful for the generous support of the Maaike McInnes Charitable Trust, the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, the Countess of Munster Trust, the Kathleen Trust, a Sybil Tutton Opera Award and Ian Fleming Award administered by Help Musicians UK, the John Wates Charitable Trust, the Cosman Keller Art & Music Trust, the Josephine Baker Trust and for scholarships to The North Sea Vocal Academy in Denmark and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh.
