Sophie Solomon
Encyclopedia
Sophie Solomon is a British violinist, songwriter and composer who fuses many different musical influences into her music. In January 2012 she will take up the Directorship of the Jewish Music Institute, SOAS.
at the age of two. At four she met Yehudi Menuhin
and was taken to see the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich
. For the first five years she played totally by ear, learning to read music at the age of seven.
Even though the National Children's Orchestra and ProCorda heralded her as one of the most promising violinists of her generation, Solomon "was never completely satisfied by the classical world alone, I felt constrained by the fact that the music was written down and the strict parameters of the repertoire. I felt I had to step outside of that and find my own voice."
She was one of Bell's Belles who campaigned for Martin Bell
during his successful attempt to be elected MP
for Tatton
in the 1997 UK general election.
She studied at Cheltenham Ladies' College
, and later at University College, Oxford
(University of Oxford
) graduating in 1999 with a First Class degree in Modern History and Russian. She also holds an MSc in Economic History from the London School of Economics
.
music at Kitai Gorod's Propaganda nightclub. Solomon developed a passion for the traditional musics of Eastern Europe especially klezmer
and gypsy styles and travelled widely in the region, absorbing new sounds and influences along the way. This led to her becoming a founder member of Oi Va Voi
who were described as "one of the most exciting bands in Britain today" by The Daily Telegraph
. It was with this band that she rediscovered her love for the violin.
Famed for their live appearances and Solomon's on-stage pyrotechnics, the band's debut album Laughter Through Tears received rave reviews, was voted in the top ten albums of 2004 by The New York Times
, won them two nominations in BBC Radio 3
's annual awards for world music and an Edison Album of the Year Award 2003.
Solomon's collaboration with Josh "Socalled" Dolgin
- Solomon & Socalled's HipHopKhasene - with special guests David Krakauer
, Michael Alpert and Frank London
, a traditional klezmer
wedding hip-hop style received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Album of the Year award 2004.
She became increasingly in-demand, lending her violin playing to the likes of Rufus Wainwright
, KT Tunstall
, Paul Weller
, Killing joke
and Theodore Bikel
. Solomon teaches klezmer music all over the world, most recently at the School of Oriental and African Studies
(University of London), the Royal Academy of Music
and Weimar Conservatoire. She is on the artistic advisory committee of the Genius of the Violin festival, the only such event in the world devoted entirely to the instrument. In February 2006 she appeared alongside Roby Lakatos
, Nikolaj Znaider
and Mark O'Connor
in the Genius of the Violin concert at the Barbican Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra
, performing special orchestrations of her own compositions. Martha Wainwright
made an appearance as Sophie's special guest at this concert singing Lazarus.
In May 2006 Solomon released her debut solo album, Poison Sweet Madeira, on Decca Records
- an eclectic mix of klezmer, folk and pop and featuring the vocal talents of Richard Hawley
, Ralph Fiennes
and KT Tunstall
. Her regular touring band comprises Ian Watson (accordion), Daniel Glendining (guitar/vocals), Grant Windsor (piano), Ali Friend (bass) and Stevie Pilgrim (drums).
She has appeared and worked with musicians as diverse as Gary Lucas
, Bacon & Quarmby, Luke Toms, The Real Tuesday Weld
, Nayekhovichi, Alan Bern
& Brave Old World
, Maurice el Medioni, the London Symphony Orchestra
, th'Legendary Shackshakers, the Israeli Sinfonietta, Hazmat Modine, Avishai Cohen, Yasmin Levy
, Ludovico Einaudi
, Marius de Vries
, Kipper, Temposhark
, Jon Thorne
, Smadj, Ben Parker (formerly of Ben & Jason
) and Besh o droM
.
In 2006, Solomon was Musical Arranger on Lindsay Posner's critically acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof
starring Henry Goodman
, which transferred to the Savoy Theatre on London's West End in May 2007.
In early 2007 Solomon premiered Wiesenberg's Suite Concertante for Klezmer and Classical Violins with Dora Schwarzberg & the Yehudi Menuhin School
Orchestra. In 2008 she was a featured musician for the premiere at London's South Bank Centre
of Marius de Vries
's composition Q4 based on T S Eliot's Four Quartets
, commissioned by the Rafael Bonachela Dance Company.
She contributes regularly to The Strad magazine.
She is currently working on her second solo disc for Sony/ATV, produced by Marius de Vries
, and composing music for various film projects. She composed the score for Vlast (Power), a film about Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which has been screened at international film festivals, including Zagrebdox where it won a Special Recognition Award, and as part of Al Jazeera's Witness strand. In 2009, Solomon was composer, arranger and musical director for Our Class, a new play by Tadeusz Slobodzianek directed by Bijan Sheibani
at the Royal National Theatre
in London. In 2010, she was Composer for 'Off the Endz' by Bola Agbaje at the Royal Court Theatre
in London and appeared as featured folk fiddler in London Assurance
at the Royal National Theatre
directed by Nicholas Hytner
.
In November 2011 she was appointed as Director of the Jewish Music Institute, SOAS, effective from January 2012.
Early life
Solomon began playing the violinViolin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
at the age of two. At four she met Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
and was taken to see the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
. For the first five years she played totally by ear, learning to read music at the age of seven.
Even though the National Children's Orchestra and ProCorda heralded her as one of the most promising violinists of her generation, Solomon "was never completely satisfied by the classical world alone, I felt constrained by the fact that the music was written down and the strict parameters of the repertoire. I felt I had to step outside of that and find my own voice."
She was one of Bell's Belles who campaigned for Martin Bell
Martin Bell
Martin Bell, OBE, is a British UNICEF Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician...
during his successful attempt to be elected MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Tatton
Tatton (UK Parliament constituency)
- Elections in the 1990s :- Elections in the 1980s :- Sources :* Data for the 2005 election are from the .* Data for the 2001 election are from http://www.election.demon.co.uk/....
in the 1997 UK general election.
She studied at Cheltenham Ladies' College
Cheltenham Ladies' College
The Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.-History:The school was founded in 1853...
, and later at University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
(University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
) graduating in 1999 with a First Class degree in Modern History and Russian. She also holds an MSc in Economic History from the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
Career
During her time at Oxford, Solomon spent a year living in Russia, where she had a residency DJing Ragga jungleRagga jungle
Ragga jungle is a genre of music that emerged circa 1989-1990 and was initially heavily based on production of Michael West...
music at Kitai Gorod's Propaganda nightclub. Solomon developed a passion for the traditional musics of Eastern Europe especially klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
and gypsy styles and travelled widely in the region, absorbing new sounds and influences along the way. This led to her becoming a founder member of Oi Va Voi
Oi Va Voi
Oi Va Voi is a British band that takes its name from a Yiddish-derived exclamation popular in modern Hebrew meaning, approximately, "Oh, dear!" It is an experimental band from London, England, which formed in the late 1990s...
who were described as "one of the most exciting bands in Britain today" by The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. It was with this band that she rediscovered her love for the violin.
Famed for their live appearances and Solomon's on-stage pyrotechnics, the band's debut album Laughter Through Tears received rave reviews, was voted in the top ten albums of 2004 by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, won them two nominations in BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
's annual awards for world music and an Edison Album of the Year Award 2003.
Solomon's collaboration with Josh "Socalled" Dolgin
Socalled
Josh Dolgin, aka Socalled, is a Canadian rapper and producer, known for his eclectic mix of hip hop, klezmer and other styles, for example drum & bass and other types of folk music. A pianist and accordion player, he has taught the latter at Klezfest London, where he has also run workshops in...
- Solomon & Socalled's HipHopKhasene - with special guests David Krakauer
David Krakauer
David Krakauer is an American clarinetist. He is a graduate of the High School of Music & Art, class of 1974. He is mostly known for his klezmer compositions. He became involved with klezmer music in the late 1980s while working as a classical musician, joining The Klezmatics...
, Michael Alpert and Frank London
Frank London
Frank London is a New York City-based trumpeter, bandleader, and composer active in klezmer and world music. He also plays various other wind instruments and keyboards, and occasionally sings backup vocals. With The Klezmatics, he won a Grammy award in Contemporary World Music for "Wonder Wheel...
, a traditional klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
wedding hip-hop style received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Album of the Year award 2004.
She became increasingly in-demand, lending her violin playing to the likes of Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
, KT Tunstall
KT Tunstall
Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist from St Andrews, Scotland. She broke into the public eye with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland...
, Paul Weller
Paul Weller
Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
, Killing joke
Killing Joke
Killing Joke are an English post-punk band formed in October 1978 in Notting Hill, London, England; other sources report the band formed in early 1979.Related news articles: Founding members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker have been the only constant members.A key influence on industrial rock,...
and Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
. Solomon teaches klezmer music all over the world, most recently at the School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
(University of London), the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
and Weimar Conservatoire. She is on the artistic advisory committee of the Genius of the Violin festival, the only such event in the world devoted entirely to the instrument. In February 2006 she appeared alongside Roby Lakatos
Roby Lakatos
Roby Lakatos, the “devil’s fiddler”, is a Romani violinist from Hungary. He is renowned for his mix of classical music with Hungarian Romani music and jazz themes....
, Nikolaj Znaider
Nikolaj Znaider
Nikolaj Znaider is a Danish classical violinist and conductor.-Career:Born in Denmark to Polish-Israeli parents, Znaider studied with the eminent Russian pedagogue Boris Kushnir and drawing on this eclectic background his playing has been heralded in the Strad Magazine as "extraordinarily...
and Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
in the Genius of the Violin concert at the Barbican Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, performing special orchestrations of her own compositions. Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle...
made an appearance as Sophie's special guest at this concert singing Lazarus.
In May 2006 Solomon released her debut solo album, Poison Sweet Madeira, on Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
- an eclectic mix of klezmer, folk and pop and featuring the vocal talents of Richard Hawley
Richard Hawley
Richard Hawley is a guitarist, singer-songwriter and producer. After his first band Treebound Story broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Longpigs in the 1990s. He later joined the band Pulp, led by his friend Jarvis Cocker...
, Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
and KT Tunstall
KT Tunstall
Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist from St Andrews, Scotland. She broke into the public eye with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland...
. Her regular touring band comprises Ian Watson (accordion), Daniel Glendining (guitar/vocals), Grant Windsor (piano), Ali Friend (bass) and Stevie Pilgrim (drums).
She has appeared and worked with musicians as diverse as Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
, Bacon & Quarmby, Luke Toms, The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld are a British band, fronted by lead singer and founder Stephen Coates. They are known for producing jazzy cabaret-style music with subtle electronica influences, a style dubbed "antique beat" by Coates. They have six albums, several singles and eps and many tracks on...
, Nayekhovichi, Alan Bern
Alan Bern
Alan Bern , born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, is the musical director of Brave Old World, and remains one of the leading lights in the teaching and revival of Yiddish music in the US, Canada, and Europe since the early 1980s.-Life:...
& Brave Old World
Brave Old World
Brave Old World is an international klezmer band formed in 1989.Members hail from the US and Germany. The Washington Post called Brave Old World "the revival's first supergroup. Every player is a virtuoso"....
, Maurice el Medioni, the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, th'Legendary Shackshakers, the Israeli Sinfonietta, Hazmat Modine, Avishai Cohen, Yasmin Levy
Yasmin Levy
Yasmin Levy , born on December 23, 1975 in Jerusalem, is an Israeli singer-songwriter of Judaeo-Spanish music.-Career:Her late father, Isaac Levy, was a composer and cantor, pioneer researcher into the long and rich history of the Ladino music and culture of Spanish Jewry and its diaspora, being...
, Ludovico Einaudi
Ludovico Einaudi
Ludovico Einaudi OMRI is an Italian contemporary music composer and pianist.-Biography:Born in Turin, Italy, Einaudi's mother played to him on the piano as a child. He began his musical training at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, gaining a diploma in composition in 1982...
, Marius de Vries
Marius de Vries
Marius Van Wyk de Vries is an English music producer and composer. He has been behind some of the key albums and soundtracks of recent times, gathering five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award along the way.-Music Producer:...
, Kipper, Temposhark
Temposhark
Temposhark is an English electronic rock band, formed in London and Brighton by singer-songwriter Robert Diament. Temposhark are best known for their songs Bye Bye Baby, Joy, It's Better To Have Loved and Not That Big; a duet with singer Imogen Heap which appears on their 2008 debut album The...
, Jon Thorne
Jon Thorne
Jon Thorne is an English double bassist.Born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire he lived in Zimbabwe from the age of 6 to 11 and is now based in Whalley Range, Manchester. He is self taught and started playing in his early twenties...
, Smadj, Ben Parker (formerly of Ben & Jason
Ben & Jason
Ben & Jason were a singer-songwriter duo from London consisting of Ben Parker and Jason Hazeley. Formed in 1998 and pre-empting the so-called New Acoustic Movement by about a year, they released three albums on Go! Beat/Universal: Hello, Emoticons and Ten Songs About You...
) and Besh o droM
Besh O Drom
Besh o droM is a Hungarian music group. Their music blends folk and contemporary instruments , in styles ranging from jazz to world music...
.
In 2006, Solomon was Musical Arranger on Lindsay Posner's critically acclaimed production of Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
starring Henry Goodman
Henry Goodman
Henry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning. He played character roles in episodes of the popular UK police drama The Bill...
, which transferred to the Savoy Theatre on London's West End in May 2007.
In early 2007 Solomon premiered Wiesenberg's Suite Concertante for Klezmer and Classical Violins with Dora Schwarzberg & the Yehudi Menuhin School
Yehudi Menuhin School
The Yehudi Menuhin School is a specialist music school in Surrey, England. It was founded in 1963 by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin.The School also gives pupils the best musical education any specialist schools can with a number of internationally main teachers, Simon Fischer , Natalya Boyarskaya ,...
Orchestra. In 2008 she was a featured musician for the premiere at London's South Bank Centre
South Bank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, UK, on the South Bank of the River Thames between County Hall and Waterloo Bridge. It comprises three main buildings , and is Europe’s largest centre for the arts. It attracts more than three million visitors annually...
of Marius de Vries
Marius de Vries
Marius Van Wyk de Vries is an English music producer and composer. He has been behind some of the key albums and soundtracks of recent times, gathering five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award along the way.-Music Producer:...
's composition Q4 based on T S Eliot's Four Quartets
Four Quartets
Four Quartets is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published individually over a six-year period. The first poem, "Burnt Norton", was written and published with a collection of his early works following the production of Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral...
, commissioned by the Rafael Bonachela Dance Company.
She contributes regularly to The Strad magazine.
She is currently working on her second solo disc for Sony/ATV, produced by Marius de Vries
Marius de Vries
Marius Van Wyk de Vries is an English music producer and composer. He has been behind some of the key albums and soundtracks of recent times, gathering five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award along the way.-Music Producer:...
, and composing music for various film projects. She composed the score for Vlast (Power), a film about Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which has been screened at international film festivals, including Zagrebdox where it won a Special Recognition Award, and as part of Al Jazeera's Witness strand. In 2009, Solomon was composer, arranger and musical director for Our Class, a new play by Tadeusz Slobodzianek directed by Bijan Sheibani
Bijan Sheibani
Bijan Sheibani is a British-Iranian theatre director. He is Artistic Director of ATC Theatre.His production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size was greeted with universal acclaim and was variously described by UK critics as “Psychologically subtle and emotionally powerful“ , “faultless” ...
at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London. In 2010, she was Composer for 'Off the Endz' by Bola Agbaje at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
in London and appeared as featured folk fiddler in London Assurance
London Assurance
London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...
at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
directed by Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
.
In November 2011 she was appointed as Director of the Jewish Music Institute, SOAS, effective from January 2012.
Discography
- Digital FolkloreDigital FolkloreDigital Folklore is the self published debut of London, England based experimental band Oi Va Voi. Some of the tracks on the album were later abridged and re-recorded for Laughter Through Tears, one example is the Hungarian folk song "A Csitari" whose vocals were performed by a female singer on the...
(Voi Records, 2002) - Laughter Through TearsLaughter Through TearsLaughter Through Tears is the second album released by London, England based experimental band Oi Va Voi. Some of the tracks on the album were originally on the band's debut Digital Folklore, one example is the Hungarian folk song "A Csitári" whose vocals were performed by a male singer in the...
(Outcaste, 2003) - Solomon&Socalled's HipHopKhasene (Piranha, 2003)
- Poison Sweet Madeira (Decca RecordsDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, 2006) - "Lazarus" (single, Decca Records, 2006)
Contributions
- Find the Torch, Burn the Plans - Paul WellerPaul WellerPaul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
Live at the Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
DVD - Special Guest with Paul WellerPaul WellerPaul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
at the Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, May 2010 - ThreadsThreads (Temposhark album)Threads is the second album by UK band, Temposhark, a project of singer/songwriter Robert Diament.-History:Temposhark's second album was produced, co-written and recorded in 2009 in London by producer Sean McGhee. The first single "The World Does Not Revolve Around You" was released in September 2009...
- TemposharkTemposharkTemposhark is an English electronic rock band, formed in London and Brighton by singer-songwriter Robert Diament. Temposhark are best known for their songs Bye Bye Baby, Joy, It's Better To Have Loved and Not That Big; a duet with singer Imogen Heap which appears on their 2008 debut album The...
2010 (violin solos on songs Say I'm Sorry and Green Lights) - Solo violin and viola on Mrs Klein by Nicholas Wright (playwright)Nicholas Wright (playwright)Nicholas Wright is a British dramatist. He opened and ran the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, was joint artistic director of the Royal Court and is a former literary manager and associate director of the Royal National Theatre. Wright began acting as a child, and trained at The...
at the Almeida TheatreAlmeida TheatreThe Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
, London 2009 - Special Guest with Paul WellerPaul WellerPaul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
at Island RecordsIsland RecordsIsland Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
50th Birthday Celebrations, Shepherd's Bush Empire 2009 - Solo violinist on Easy Virtue directed by Stephan ElliottStephan ElliottStephan Elliott is an Australian film director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Elliott began his career as an assistant director working in the boom of the Australian film industry of the 1980s....
, new film version of Noel CowardNoël CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
play starring Jessica BielJessica BielJessica Claire Biel is an American actress, model, and occasional singer. Biel is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven...
, Colin FirthColin FirthSirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
and Kristin Scott ThomasKristin Scott ThomasKristin A. Scott Thomas, OBE is an English actress who has also acquired French nationality. She gained international recognition in the 1990s for her roles in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The English Patient....
, with score by Marius de VriesMarius de VriesMarius Van Wyk de Vries is an English music producer and composer. He has been behind some of the key albums and soundtracks of recent times, gathering five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award along the way.-Music Producer:... - Fiddler on the RoofFiddler on the RoofFiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
- Jerry BockJerry BockJerrold Lewis "Jerry" Bock was an American musical theater composer. He received the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Sheldon Harnick for their 1959 musical Fiorello! and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof with...
& Joseph SteinJoseph SteinJoseph Stein was an American playwright best known for writing the books for such musicals as Fiddler on the Roof and Zorba.-Biography:...
- Musical Arranger of critically acclaimed production @ Crucible TheatreCrucible TheatreThe Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
, SheffieldSheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, & Savoy Theatre, West End, London, directed by Lindsay Posner and starring Henry GoodmanHenry GoodmanHenry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning. He played character roles in episodes of the popular UK police drama The Bill...
as Tevye, 2006/7 - World Premiere of Menachem Wiesenberg's Suite Concertante for Klezmer and Classical Violins, commissioned for Sophie by the Jewish Music Institute, performed with Dora Schwarzberg & the Yehudi MenuhinYehudi MenuhinYehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
School Orchestra, London 2007 - "Fools with Money", Luke Toms, Island RecordsIsland RecordsIsland Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
2007, produced by Marius de Vries - The Invisible LineThe Invisible LineThe Invisible Line is the debut album by UK band, Temposhark.Temposhark's debut album was produced and recorded in London by rising producer Sean McGhee with two tracks produced by Frou Frou member Guy Sigsworth, who contributes It's Better To Have Loved and Winter's Coming. The recording process...
- TemposharkTemposharkTemposhark is an English electronic rock band, formed in London and Brighton by singer-songwriter Robert Diament. Temposhark are best known for their songs Bye Bye Baby, Joy, It's Better To Have Loved and Not That Big; a duet with singer Imogen Heap which appears on their 2008 debut album The...
, 2007/2008 - Natureboy - Amanda GhostAmanda GhostAmanda Ghost is a singer and songwriter from Enfield, North London, England. After an initial period in which she performed as a solo artist, she formed a band which performed under her name, and of which she was the lead singer...
, 2007 - Chagall Illuminated, a Spiel-commissioned project of animation & improvisation inspired by Chagall paintings, together with Max Reinhardt, Tamar Osborn, Ben Mandelson and Lemez Lovas, 2007
- Socalled Seder Live 2007
- Want TwoWant TwoWant Two is the fourth album by American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. The album was released on November 16, 2004. Four of the tracks on this album were released in the summer of 2004 as the EP Waiting for a Want on the iTunes music store.Want Two is, according to Wainwright, the...
- Rufus WainwrightRufus WainwrightRufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
, DreamworksDreamWorksDreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
2005, produced by Marius de Vries - Music From The Winery - David KrakauerDavid KrakauerDavid Krakauer is an American clarinetist. He is a graduate of the High School of Music & Art, class of 1974. He is mostly known for his klezmer compositions. He became involved with klezmer music in the late 1980s while working as a classical musician, joining The Klezmatics...
, Tzadik 2005 - RedbirdRedbird-People:*Red Bird , Ho-Chunk chief*Redbird Smith , Cherokee traditionalist-Places in the United States:*Redbird, Oklahoma...
- Heather NovaHeather NovaHeather Nova, is a Bermudian singer-songwriter and poet. She has released eight full-length albums and has found lasting success in Germany where two of her albums South and Storm have made their way into the Top-5 of German official album chart.-Biography:Heather Nova was born in Bermuda...
, V2V2 RecordsV2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI....
2005 - Another Run Around the Sun - Ben TaylorBen Taylor (musician)Benjamin Taylor is a musician and actor. He is the son of folk rock artists James Taylor and Carly Simon. His sister, Sally Taylor, is also a musician. Ben Taylor bears a striking resemblance to his famous father and has a singing voice akin to him as well...
, Independiente 2005, produced by Bacon & Quarmby
Awards
- Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Album of the Year 2004 - Solomon & Socalled's HipHopkhasene (Piranha)
- Edison World Music Album of the Year 2004 - Oi Va Voi Laughter Through Tears (Outcaste)
Poison Sweet Madeira tracklist
- "Holy Devil"
- "Burnt By The Sun" (with Richard Hawley)
- "Poison Sweet Madeira"
- "Lazarus" (with KT Tunstall)
- "A Light That Never Dies" (with Ralph Fiennes)
- "Hazy"
- "I Can Only Ask Why"
- "Meditation On Dvorak's Slavonic Fantasy"
- "Pin Pricks And Gravy Stains"
External links
- Sophie Solomon Official website
- Sophie Solomon on Myspace.com
- http://www.temposhark.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=89322Sophie Solomon audio interview TemposharkTemposharkTemposhark is an English electronic rock band, formed in London and Brighton by singer-songwriter Robert Diament. Temposhark are best known for their songs Bye Bye Baby, Joy, It's Better To Have Loved and Not That Big; a duet with singer Imogen Heap which appears on their 2008 debut album The...
's Podcast series, May 2006] - Sophie Solomon interviewed at BBC Radio 3
- Sophie Solomon at Deccaclassics.com