SOPHIA JEAN was appointed 2nd Flute/Piccolo of the Jacksonville Symphony beginning in the 2025/2026 season. Prior to winning her position, Sophia earned her master’s degree in flute performance at the Yale School of Music as a student of Tara Helen O’Connor. During her studies, she appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Albany Symphony, and New World Symphony. Jean has spent summers as a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and Kent Blossom Music Festival.
A laureate of numerous competitions, Jean was named first place winner of the 2024 National Flute Association Young Artist Competition, also receiving the Paul Taub Award for Best Performance of the Newly Commissioned Work. She also received first prize in both Chicago Flute Club’s 2023 Kujala International Piccolo Competition and 2023 Donald Peck Flute Competition. In 2025, she received the Yale School of Music’s Thomas Daniel Nyfenger Prize, given to a graduating student who has demonstrated the highest standard of excellence in woodwind playing. A passionate chamber musician, Jean is a member of Trio Animoso, who has made appearances in the New+Emerging Artist Series of Eastern Illinois University, Yale Vista Concert and the Philadelphia Athenaeum Concert Series. The group was also named 1st Place Winner of the International Harp Competition “Angel Padilla Crespo.”
Jean earned undergraduate degrees in Flute Performance and Cognitive Science from Northwestern University, where she studied flute with John Thorne and piccolo with Jennifer Gunn and Alyce Johnson. She is a native of Lakeland, Florida.
About our Rising Stars
ChamberFest Cleveland’s Rising Stars are recognized for their extraordinary talent. They are invited to deepen their connection to the art of chamber music by immersing themselves in the festival, rehearsing side by side with the leading chamber musicians of our time, and performing in a professional concert setting for discerning audiences and critics alike.
The Rising Stars program is generously sponsored by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder.