Léonie Sonning Talent Prize recipient 2025
COMPOSER
Sophie Søs Meyer is a musical adventurer who journeyed from childhood folk music on the island of Fanø to composition studies in Iceland and Estonia, with side trips into everything from Byzantine paleography to Javanese gamelan. For her, music is a journey—not just geographical, but a deeper experience of time.
Her musical journey began when her grandfather let her play his violin, guiding her in creating simple melodies. After the family moved to Fanø, Sophie joined the island’s rich folk music tradition, playing dance music in local restaurants as a child.
Through OrkesterEfterskolen and MGK, she earned a bachelor’s degree in violin at the conservatory. But chronic migraines forced her to stop playing for years, leaving her without her musical identity—until a recording course changed everything.
Her studies led her to Iceland and then Estonia, where she earned her master’s degree. There, she met folk musicians fascinated by Fanø’s music, and her folk roots resurfaced alongside her studies.
Sophie has since immersed herself in ancient musical traditions, Orthodox church music, millennium-old chant in a Greek convent, Japanese butoh dance, and Javanese gamelan—which she hopes to explore further soon.
Her next stops are Vienna, Paris, and Tallinn, where she collaborates with ensembles and plans to use her Léonie Sonning Talent Prize for lessons with top composers and equipment for sound recording—allowing her to continue exploring the meeting point between voice and space.
