Biography
Sophia Aretz is an internationally active flutist who regularly performs with renowned ensembles and orchestras. Her debut album, *Prussian Blue*, was released in 2022 on Hänssler Classic, recorded in collaboration with harpsichordist Alexander von Heißen. This was followed in 2025 by their concert debut at the Konzerthaus Berlin. In the same year, Sophia Aretz was awarded first prize at the International Johann Heinrich Schmelzer Competition in Austria and was accepted into the pool of musicians for the British ensemble Arcangelo. As a soloist, she can also be heard on a CD by the ensemble “Harmonie Universelle” performing works by Johann Wilhelm Wilms in two concertante symphonies. In addition, she has played in numerous other CD recordings across various musical genres, playing the classical multi-keyed flute, the Baroque flute and, more recently, the Romantic flute (see recordings). Since 2023, her solo performances have become increasingly frequent, including Bach’s Suite in B minor, Mozart’s Flute Concerto in G major, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, and concertante arias with orchestra.
She is regularly engaged as principal flutist with ensembles and orchestras, including the Kölner Akademie, Concerto Köln, Anima Eterna Brugge, Ensemble 1700 and the Cölner Barockorchester. She also performs occasionally as second flute with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London. She is a co-founder of the ensemble Lantana Camara, with which she performs in flexible constellations, amongst others, Jonas Zschenderlein (violin), Amarilis Dueñas (cello/viola da gamba), Jakob Wagner (lute, theorbo and guitar) and Alexander von Heißen (harpsichord).
She studied at the RSH Düsseldorf (Bachelor’s) and the HfMT Cologne (Master’s). An Erasmus exchange took her to the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Sophia Aretz was a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben for many years and has also received support from, among others, the Lyra Foundation, the Jugend & Schlösser NRW Foundation, the Richard Wagner Association Düsseldorf, the Düsseldorf Community Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Friends of the HfMT Cologne, the Gretel Sütterlin Foundation and Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Rhein-Ruhr. From a young age, she was awarded first prize at the national ‘Jugend musiziert’ competition on five occasions and won, amongst other honours, first prize at the International Flute Ensemble Competition in Freiburg and second prize at the International Competition in the Netherlands.
