Sophia Gao

violin

Leyan Sophia Gao, 16, studies violin with Simon James and began playing at age seven with Yi Zhou. She is a concert winner of the 2026 Seattle Young Artists Competition and a two-time first prize winner of the Simon-Fiset String Competition (2025, 2026), where she received the Kent Coleman Memorial Trophy. In 2024, she won the Washington State Music Teachers National Association Junior Division and was named an alternate in the MTNA Northwest Division, with additional honorable mentions in 2023 and 2025. Sophia has served as concertmaster of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Laske Washington School District Honors Orchestra and has been recognized at the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside. She made her orchestral debut in 2025 performing Carmen Fantasy by Franz Waxman. She has participated in masterclasses with leading artists including Robert Lipsett, Ani Kavafian, and James Ehnes, and has attended programs such as the Seattle Chamber Music Society (2023, 2025, 2026), Center Stage Strings (2023, 2024), and Sounding Point Academy (2025).