Léonie Sonning Talent Prize recipient 2025
VIOLIST, COMPOSER AND SINGER
In 7th grade at the Rudolf Steiner School, a teacher opened Josefine Weber Hansen’s eyes to music as art, experimentation, and play. Though she played the viola, she was also drawn to singing and was later admitted to the conservatory as a vocalist. Today, she has crafted a unique sound where viola and voice merge seamlessly.
Josefine began with piano and marimba, but the moment she picked up a violin at age 11, something clicked. Shortly thereafter, she switched to viola—partly thanks to a family member who brought one back from China, convinced it sounded better than a violin.
She was admitted to MGK and then to the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with viola as her main instrument. Yet singing continued to call to her, and after years of deliberation, she applied to the conservatory again—this time as a singer—and was accepted.
The COVID-19 lockdown marked a turning point. She joined the artist collective ‘Venteværelse’t and began creating her own projects. She also explored forgotten works by women composers with the ensemble ‘Damkapellet’ and began composing her own music.
Josefine now studies in the soloist class at the Esbjerg Academy of Music in the Contemporary Creative Artist program, composing works where her voice and viola blend into a singular expression.
The Léonie Sonning Talent Prize will support her debutalbum recording, video production of selected works, further studies in singing and composition, the purchase of a viola microphone, and a study and inspiration trip to New York.
