Sophie Dervaux
has been principal bassoonist of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra since 2015. Previously, she was principal contrabassoonist of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Her album “impressions” with works for bassoon and piano, which she released with Sélim Mazari on the Label Berlin Classics in 2021, was highly praised by the press and received the German Record Critics’ Award. With impressions, [she] “elevates the bassoon to a noble status,” reported Sabine Weber on Deutschlandfunk, and Holger Arnold wrote in FONO FORUM: “One cannot imagine a more beautiful calling card.”

As an ambassador for her instrument, she is committed to expanding the repertoire for bassoon by rediscovering works or commissioning new ones. She has been a “Püchner Artist” since 2014 and is passionate about making her instrument even better known.

In April 2022, her next album with works by Hummel, Mozart and a world premiere recording of Vanhal’s Bassoon Concerto will be released by Berlin Classics, recorded together with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg.

Sophie Dervaux has won prizes at numerous prestigious competitions, including the ARD Munich International Music Competition (2013) and the Beethoven Ring Bonn (2014). She has performed as a soloist with famous orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Orchestre National de Lyon and more. Her wide solo repertoire includes works by Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, Jolivet, Strauss, Mozart, Hummel, Haydn and Paganini.

She has played in the world’s most prestigious concert halls, including the Musikverein Vienna, Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Carnegie Hall New York and Royal Albert Hall London. As a chamber musician, Sophie Dervaux performs with internationally renowned musicians and in 2020 recorded, among others, the Beethoven Trio for piano, bassoon and flute together with Daniel Barenboim and Emmanuel Pahud for Warner Classics. She regularly is on stage together with oboist Albrecht Mayer.

In addition to her work in the orchestra and as a soloist, Sophie Dervaux teaches at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien and gives master classes at renowned conservatories worldwide.

She began her musical education on the guitar and clarinet, and has been playing the bassoon since 2003. After training at the Versailles Conservatory, she studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Lyon and at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. She then joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy (Karajan Academy). Her teachers include Carlo Colombo, Jean Pignoly, Volker Tessmann and Daniele Damiano.