New Masterclass 2023

take place in Prague

12th - 22th of August

Summer Prague Festival

Varna

Sofia Astakhov/clarinet

Sofia Astakhov

Vita Sofia Astakhov

Sofija Astakhov, born 1987, comes from a Ukranian musical family. She developed her enthusiasm for

music when she was only a small child. At first she received piano lessons; at the age of eight years the

begann to play the clarinet.

She was educated at the special music school of Kotor in Montenegro. After her degree in 2003, she

studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, Germany, in the class of professor Ulf

Rodenhäuser and at the Staatliche Musikhochschule Freiburg, Germany, in the class of professor Jörg

Widmann.

The main focus of her musical career lies on working with contemporary composers. In 1999 Dejan

Despic, one of the most significant composers of former Yugoslavia, already dedicated a piece for

clarinet, piano and orchestra to her. „Music for Sonja“ was premiered the same year at the Lviv

Philharmonic and later on at Kolarac concert hall in Belgrade.

During her studies she was a member of the ensemble for contemporary music „Oktopus“ in Munich for

five years. The ensemble was led by the composer professor Konstantia Gourzi. At the same time Sofija

Molchanova also regularly performed as a soloist and chamber musician at various festivals, she played at

Kissinger Sommer, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at the

Münchener Biennale, the Max-Reger-Tage Weiden and at the Max Reger-Forum Leipzig, in Kloster

Seeon, at the Mozartiade-Schwäbischer Musiksommer, at the Pavarotti Music Center Mostar as well as at

the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Nish Philharmonic (Serbia), the Lviv Philharmonic (Ukraine) and

Kolarac in Belgrade.

The young musician acquired extensive orchestra experience through her engagement in different sound

bodies, she regularly plays with the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, the Georgisches

Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, the Junge Philharmonie Köln and the Russian Chamber Philharmonic St.

Petersburg.

In 2012 Sofija Molchanova won the price of the Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung and was finalist at the

second international clarinet competition in Freiburg, Germany.

Currently Sofija Molchanova is solo clarinettist at the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich and clarinettist

at the Filarmonia Frankfurt and Festival Orchestra Westfalen.

She teaches currently at the music school Neuenstadt and Moeckmuehl as clarinet and Saxophon teacher

and conducts Musikverein Siegelsbach (Wind Orchestra)