Biography

Clarinetist Sophia Bracken is committed to making classical music accessible to communities across the country. Through her work as an artist, Bracken seeks to increase representation of the LGBTQ+ community in classical music. Her first initiative in this line of work is founding OUT Ensemble, an all-LGBTQ+ wind quintet performing the works of queer composers. Based in Ann Arbor, MI, OUT Ensemble performs both established repertoire and commissions new works by queer composers to expand wind quintet repertoire by LGBTQ+ composers. In the orchestral world, Bracken has twice performed as a member of the International Pride Orchestra, premiering Loud! by Jimmy Bellido Lopez at the San Francisco Conservatory and performing Rhapsody in Blue with pianist Sara Davis Buechner at the Strathmore Music Center. A performance at Queer Arts Featured in San Francsico included the premiere of her sister’s arrangement of Waltz from Sleeping Beauty, a synthesis of classical music and queer history that Bracken plans to incorporate into future performances.

Community performances have long been at the forefront of Bracken’s career. OUT Ensemble regularly performs in museums, churches, and art galleries in both Ann Arbor and as part of their annual Pride Concert Series, which took place in Washington, DC in June 2025. During her undergraduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory, Bracken performed at the Walters Art Museum, Goucher College, and local churches as a member of Aura Winds. At these performances, Bracken invites the audience to experience classical music in conjunction with other activities such as viewing sculptures, painting, or observing wildlife. Integrating classical music into other community activities to reach new audiences is a part of Bracken’s musical mission.

Bracken is committed to promoting new works of classical music and is an active commissioner of new music. For their 2025-26 season, OUT Ensemble will premiere three works written by University of Michigan alumni. As an undergraduate at the Peabody Conservatory, she premiered Five Snapshots of a Languorous Day by Aidan Deighan and played principal with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra to preview Irya Aleksiychuk’s Go where the wind takes you under the direction of Marin Alsop. Bracken performed six scenes for an opera workshop in April 2023 as the bass clarinetist of the Old Bay New Music Ensemble and worked with the Music for New Media Department to showcase ten new works for visual media. She can also be heard in an upcoming Naxos album of composer Du Yun’s Mythology Series, recorded by Maestra Alsop and the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.

Praised by Sandra Chappell of the U.S. Naval Academy Band as being “expressive with lovely tone,” Bracken has won the first prize of the Sidney Forrest Clarinet Competition and the Treasure Coast Symphony Concerto Competition performing Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie. As part of her ongoing community work, Bracken has performed two solo recitals at the Walters Art Museum and designed a child-friendly concert at the Enoch Pratt Library. A recipient of the Peabody Alumni Award, she has been recognized by the Peabody Institute for receiving a 4.0 GPA during her undergraduate studies. Bracken received her Bachelor of Music and Business of Music Minor from the Peabody Conservatory in May 2024, where she studied with Alexander Fiterstein. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the University of Michigan in the studio of Chad Burrow and Daniel Gilbert. When not making music, Bracken enjoys visiting secondhand bookstores to find new authors and hiking in national parks.