BIOGRAPHY

Sophia Mitchell is a Sydney based Mezzo-soprano. She studied the violin and viola before commencing training in classical singing at the age of 16. Sophia performed with choirs, vocal groups and as a soloist in concerts, winning and placing in competitions throughout primary and high school. She was given lead roles in school musicals and dramas from her first year of high school before commencing formal training.

After receiving her Associate Diploma in singing at the age of 19, Sophia began singing with the Sydney Philharmonia Symphonic Choir. She was later asked to sing with their Motet Choir, performing in such venues as London's Royal Albert Hall, Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, the Sydney Opera House and the City Recital Hall. Major performances with the choirs include the 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony, Barbara Streisand's 2000 Sydney Farewell Concert and the 2002 Birmingham and London Proms. She also had the opportunity to do a number of recordings with this choir.

Sophia was accepted into the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and received a Bachelor of Music in 2006. During her undergraduate degree she continued to sing with the Philharmonia Choirs and was also accepted into the Conservatorium Chamber Choir. Sophia joined an acting agency, enrolled in some short acting courses, and successfully aquired work as an extra and feature for films, commercials and television and had a lead role in a short film. In 2008 Sophia continued her studies, completing a Graduate Diploma at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Sophia has performed the lead roles of Josephine in HMS Pinafore (Gilbert and Sullivan), Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti) and Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde). Between 2008-09 she produced and performed in three concerts of opera and oratorio to raise funds for the work of Anglicare.

In 2010 Sophia recorded a short a program for broadcast on 2MBS radio with harpsichordist Chris Berensen with whom she also performed a series of concerts entitled Handel You Haven't Heard! She also performed the role of Berta in The Barber of Seville (Rossini) for Rockdale Opera, chorus in Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) for Pacific Opera and the first in a series of concerts of Elizabethan lute songs, with lutenist Andrew Byrne. Sophia will also perform a series of concerts of operatic arias and duets with soprano, Kerry Nicholson, and will be engaged as a guest artist with the Ku-ring-gai Male Choir for a third consecutive year.

Sophia has a special love of early music and has been accepted into the Early Music Summer School at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam for 2010.

Sophia is involved in running the music at St Mark's, Northbridge, where she also sings and plays the violin and electric bass.