CHAPMAN, Sofia

Sofia Chapman is an Australian composer, accordionist, pianist, writer, playwright, filmmaker, and performer, born in Tasmania and based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. She trained initially as a classical pianist and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Modern Languages at the University of Tasmania. In the 1990s she turned to the piano accordion, at one stage performing on a theatre barge on the Rhône in Avignon, France, before returning to Australia and pursuing playwriting alongside music. Sofia Chapman
Chapman joined the Australian ensemble Vardos in 1998 as its accordionist. With violinist Alana Hunt she has made repeated study trips to Hungary and Romania, learning traditional repertoire and performance practices directly from folk and Roma musicians. Vardos has toured internationally and appeared at festivals and venues including WOMADelaide, the Port Fairy Folk Festival, Hamer Hall, the Famous Spiegeltent, and Melbourne Recital Centre. Chapman has also studied instruments and accompaniment practices associated with Hungarian and Transylvanian traditional music. Vardos
Her work as a composer is closely connected with theatre, film, accordion, piano, and interdisciplinary performance. She wrote and composed The Four Accordionists of the Apocalypse, produced at La Mama as part of the 2012 Melbourne Fringe Festival; the work received the festival’s Best Emerging Writer Award. She has subsequently written music for other theatrical productions and films, including the score for Faezeh Alavi’s short film The Private Part (2019). Vardos
Among her published compositions is Dogs Demons Destiny, originally created as the title music for her short film of the same name. The piano work was published by Wirripang in 2022 and has been included in the Con Brio Grade 6 piano syllabus. Other original music appears in The Extreme Accordion Show and the soundtrack to The Four Accordionists of the Apocalypse. Chapman’s compositions are published by the Australian music publisher Wirripang. Sofia Chapman
Alongside composing and performing, Chapman teaches piano and accordion and conducts workshops in Eastern European traditional music. She is also President of the Victorian Branch of the Accordion Society of Australia.