Sophia Bass is a 2020 graduate of Oberlin College and has experience writing film and chamber music.
In 2017, Bass was hired to compose the soundtrack to a graduate thesis film from Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. She pioneered the biggest film scoring project, and the only one of its kind, in the history of Oberlin College and Conservatory by recruiting a 45-member orchestra to conduct a live recording of her 22-minute soundtrack.
She is a two-time alumna of the Palomar Film Music Workshop where she was mentored by Hollywood film composers Roger Neill and Larry Groupé.
In 2019, Bass took on professional work collaborating with film director, Carl Kriss, who had worked as editor with National Geographic, the History Channel and Amazon, to compose the soundtrack for his latest documentary Bring It Home.
In 2020, prominent Israeli-American cellist, Inbal Segev, commissioned Bass as one of twenty hand-selected composers, to write a piece for her latest album "20 for 2020". Volume No. 1 of the album, featuring Bass's piece "Taal-Naad Naman", was publicly released on June 25th, 2021 and is currently available on all public music platforms.
Most recently, Bass was commissioned by the Bass Players for Black Composers (BPBC) organization to compose a full-length, solo work for Double Bass. Bass' collaboration with double bassist Michael Martin and BPBC culminated in a public workshop, live interview and performance of her piece, which will be premiered by Martin on June 26th, 2021.
At Oberlin, Bass worked as the Assistant Conductor to the visiting Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Michigan Philharmonic, Nan Harrison Washburn.
As a current Fulbright-Nehru grant recipient, Bass serves in the capacity of an ambassador and will conduct her research in Karnataka, India, under the combined guidance of internationally-renowned musicians, Dr. Mysore Manjunath and Pt. Udayaraj Karpur. Having to postpone her Fulbright for one year as a result of Covid-19, she is temporarily conducting her Fulbright studies virtually and currently studies Hindustani classical music and tabla performance with Pt. Udayaraj Karpur.
In Fall 2022, Bass will attend the Royal College of Music in London to pursue a two-year master’s degree in Composition for Screen.
Her plans after graduating from the RCM include a continuation of her work in composition, potentially as a composer’s intern, and her ethnomusicological research.