Sophie Davis, violin

Meet Sophie

Sophie Davis first performed on Show 215 in Portland, Maine in 2010. She went on to co-host Show 462 in 2025.

Sophie Davis is a violinist, climate change artist, and the Artistic Director of Halcyon, an artist collective based in Midcoast Maine. Having grown up in Maine, she received degrees in violin performance and environmental studies from Oberlin College and Conservatory. Playing and sharing music are integral to Sophie’s creative and professional practice. She has participated in the Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Program, as a soloist with Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, and with her sister, Josie, on NPR’s From the Top. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, the Monte Music Festival in India, and with the Jordan National Orchestra (JOrchestra) in Amman, Jordan. In 2017-18, Sophie was awarded a Fulbright Grant to the South Pacific island nation of Samoa where she researched how music and the arts raise awareness of climate change. As a violinist, stop-motion animator, and core member of Halcyon, Sophie collaborates frequently with musicians, artists, activists, and scientists. Her creative practice combines the honesty of science and statistical fact with the emotions of film and music. Recent projects have led her to pursue coursework in stop-motion animation; research the internal documents of the Exxon Corporation; build a contact microphone to record the sounds of ice-out; and record humpback whale song aboard a tall ship in the Lesser Antilles. She is a 2024 National Arts Strategies ​Creative Community Fellow.