Sonia Tcherepanov was born on May 28, 1999, and grew up in Lübeck, Germany. She began learning piano with the help of her parents at the age of six. Six years later, she discovered and started playing the saxophone in the class of Lilja Russanowa at the “Musikschule der Gemeinnützigen” conservatory in Lübeck.
During this period, she participated in various ensemble projects, masterclasses, and competitions, which allowed her to gain experience. She started performing as a soloist as well as in a quartet alongside her teacher, Mrs. Russanowa. She attended masterclasses with Christian Wirth, Daniel Gauthier, Sergey Kolesov, the “Raschèr Saxophone Quartet,” and the “SIGNUM Saxophone Quartet.”
During the “Jugend Musiziert” competition (a competition for young musicians in Germany), she won first prizes in both the “solo” and “ensemble” categories. Later, she won the first prize at the international classical saxophone competition in Lübeck. She also performed at the Brahms Festival. In 2017, she graduated from the “Carl-Jacob-Burckhardt Gymnasium” in Lübeck.
At the age of sixteen, she began a preparatory program for her Bachelor’s degree in Germany, which lasted two years and was alongside Professor Rico Gubler at the “Musikhochschule Lübeck.” It was in 2017 that she began her Bachelor’s degree in classical saxophone. Since then, she has participated in masterclasses with Marcuss Weiss, Johannes Thorell, Dejan Presicek, Raphael Camenisch, Nikita Zimin, Asya Fateyeva, Laurent Estoppey, Frank Lunte, and Arno Bornkamp. From 2018 to 2019, she started teaching saxophone at the “Musik- und Kunstakademie” conservatory in Lübeck. In parallel, she began playing in the Big Band at the “Musikhochschule Lübeck” alongside Bernd Ruf. During her first year of her Bachelor’s, she traveled with the Big Band on a tour in Taiwan, and the following year, she recorded an album with the same ensemble.
In Germany, she received scholarships from prestigious foundations such as the “Yehudi-Menuhin-Stiftung” (Hamburg), the “Marie-Luise-Imbusch-Stiftung” (Lübeck), and the “Possehl-Stiftung” (Lübeck). In October 2018, she received a promotion award from the international “Kiwanis” club. From 2019 to 2020, she went on an Erasmus exchange year in Paris with Jean-Michel Goury. Additionally, she performs as a duo with her father Sergej Tcherepanov (organ/piano/harpsichord). Together, they give concerts in various regions of Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, France, and Russia.
In 2020, she entered the PESMD Bordeaux Nouvelle Aquitaine, studying with Marie-Bernadette Charrier, and also enrolled at the University of Bordeaux in musicology. She obtained her DNSPM in July 2022. During this time, she focused on contemporary music, particularly mixed music. She participated in various ensembles, as well as her quartet, at the MAD Festival in Bordeaux.
For her DNSPM project, she commissioned three electroacoustic composers – Laurent Soulié, Jérôme Alban, and HuiMu Guo – to compose three mixed pieces. She performed these works in a concert and gave a lecture at the SCRIME in Bordeaux (studio for creation and research in computing and experimental music).
In July 2022, she attended the European Saxophone University in Gap, where she took classes with Vincent David, Claude Delangle, Nicolas Arsenijevic, and Joonatan Rautiola, as well as at the Mixed Academy, where she deepened her knowledge of mixed music with Martin Matalon, Giulia Lorusso, Juan Arroyo, and Proxima Centauri. She also had masterclasses with Jean-Marie Londeix, Alexandre Souillart, and the Fukio Quartet.
In 2022, she joined the class of Jean-Denis Michat at the Conservatoire of Lyon. In December 2023, she performed concerts with “Due Voci” and “L’Artisanat Furieux” at the World Saxophone Congress in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. She then had a “mixed music” (saxophone/electroacoustic music) concert with Yejin Suh at the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Lyon and a concert with her saxophone quartet at the Auditorium of Lyon.
In May 2024, she participated in the “Bigflo et Oli” show at the “LDLC Arena” in Lyon. A concert with saxophone/organ followed at the Notre-Dame du Finistère Church in Brussels, Belgium.
Since September 2024, Sonia has been pursuing her Master’s degree in the class of Lars Mlekusch at the Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland.