This following is an excerpt from an interview between EMF Alumni Sophie Manoloff ‘(18 trumpet) and EMF, conducted in March 2023.
EMF: You are originally from Ohio?
Sophie: Yeah, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.
EMF: What is the starting point in your life for music, and how did that evolve for you?
Sophie: I always had music in my life, I grew up with a family that loved music. I picked up trumpet in the fifth grade when we all picked an instrument, and I loved it. I was naturally pretty good at trumpet, and so it was really fun for me to play, and being in my small suburb of Cleveland, it was easy to kind of get ahead with it, just loving it as much as I did.
I wanted to be a doctor actually for as long as I can remember, so I did apply to all my colleges pre-med. But I just auditioned with my trumpet at some colleges to try to get some scholarships and to see what was possible. I ended up having to choose between a pre-med track at a very good college and trumpet at NYU, because [NYU] was going to give me a scholarship if I majored in it. And I thought, ‘Oh, maybe it’s possible to have a career in this?”
NYU was very appealing to me because it’s liberal arts, and I could change my mind [regarding my major] if I wanted to. But I’ve never wanted to ever since I started going for it. I came in [to NYU] as a freshman and had a blind audition for the orchestras and I got first chair, which was really really neat. And I think that’s what set me ahead to be honest. . . I played first in everything for all four years and met a lot of people who knew me as the lead trumpet player.
It was the summer after my freshman year that I applied and went to EMF. I liked classical music, I was good at playing it, so I was thinking that was going to be the route that I went for my career and everything, [as] those are probably the most stable jobs. I got into EMF, I was really excited and I had a wonderful time. I believe there were ten of us in this trumpet studio. And we still keep in touch actually, which is wild. It was so long ago, I think 2018?
EMF: 2018 is right.
Sophie: I was one of the younger people there I remember, and it was so fun, everybody was very welcoming, it was a great environment. And I just specifically remember the trumpet studio being very very tight, very very close. I was getting a lot of really good experience and rep under my belt playing that summer more than I ever had, you know.
However, I wasn’t sure if I was sold on classical music or orchestra life, just playing that one style forever. When I got back to New York – at NYU there’s a lot of different ensembles you can play in – I started to really enjoy playing theater and Broadway a lot more, and doing more than just that one [classical] style. I still really enjoyed classical music and EMF gave me some wonderful connections and opportunities to do that. But something I did with my next summer [was] play for a summer theater festival, a pre-Broadway festival in Cape Cod called the College Light Opera Company. We played nine Broadway shows in ten weeks, so it was similar to [to EMF in structure] . . . [but this] was just a ton of Broadway theater experience. That summer was when I fell in love with Broadway kind of playing, [in which you play] six or seven different styles in one show. It’s a lot of changing it up. And to get [Broadway] jobs [requires] a lot more freelancing and networking, it is easier to get ahead that way, and I was [skilled] at the [freelancing and making] connections piece of it. So . . that’s what I do now, as a Broadway trumpet player, and I freelance in New York when I’m not on tour.
EMF: I saw one of the Instagram posts that you made, referring to Fiddler on the Roof, that “this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done” What about playing that show made you feel that way?
Sophie: That’s definitely how I felt at the time. I still do [feel that way]. Last year, I think, has probably been the greatest year of my life. There’s been a lot of cool things I am doing and cool places that my trumpet has taken me that has surprised me, and the Fiddler tour has been one of them. [Going on a Broadway tour] has been a dream of mine ever since I started playing this kind of repertoire. . . either to be subbing or to have a chair on Broadway. That’s kind of the musicians’ dream of in New York. Or, to be on tour and have my own chair with a show.
It’s just a really fun life. Definitely it’s not for everyone if travel makes you really tired or playing the same thing, you know, for months makes you really burnt out. But I enjoy it so much. The show itself is really important and beautiful, it’s a classic, the music I get to play is stunning. I have some really fun solos I get to play every night. It’s a reduced score, so I think 23 people play Fiddler on Broadway, and we get to play it with 10 musicians. It’s trickier but it still sounds pretty good in the house when you play. And my part is covering a lot of all three trumpet parts, I play them all. So, in one aspect that’s a little spooky because my solos are all very exposed, but on the other hand it makes it really fun and entertaining for me to play every night.
[And] even though it’s the same show over and over, it still is fresh because it’s a new audience every night . . .We get a lot of people that will come down to the pit and ask about us and the musicians. Sometimes we’ll get a lot of trumpet players who will come down and say “Wow, it’s really cool to see a woman doing what you’re doing.” There’s not a lot of female trumpet players – I think I’m one of the only ones on a tour. [And] I get a lot of young people come down and say ‘I want to do what you’re doing!” And that used to be me. So it’s very humbling, very very fun.
I love the travel piece of it, it’s a great way to see the country, and I don’t [start] work until 7:00pm each night, except for weekends when we have two shows and matinees. But you get to explore the city that you are in all day, and then you get to go to work every night and do this beautiful show. So I love it, and it’s great experience, you’re working with such talented people.
EMF: It does sound like a lot of fun. Does the company all spend time together when you are not playing?
Sophie: I tend to gravitate towards the people who really like adventure, and we love to go on hikes in the cool cities we’re in and go explore all there is to explore in these cities across the US and Canada. Its really fun to get to know people that way. And you honestly hire each other later in life.
EMF: What’s an adventure you went on recently?
Sophie: Well, this last leg of tour has been so fun. [As far as] my favorite cities, we did a Canada sit, which was three weeks in three cities in Canada which was so fun. I loved Calgary, because we were so close to Banff National Park. I went into Banff every single day before the show. Even on a two-show day, I went to Banff. We had rental cars, so we would drive into the parks and we’d hike, and it was winter and January in Canada, so kind of cold. But it was beautiful, I went skating on a frozen lake, and I did all these mountain hikes, and I remember even on a two-show day where we had a matinee at 2pm and I was called at 1pm, I still got up at like five in the morning to climb a mountain because my friends and I are insane – but it was just so fun being in a place that beautiful, and being paid to be there. The next week we went to Vancouver, same thing. We loved Vancouver, the food there was just amazing. So it was just fun to explore these places I’ve never been.
Last week [In March] we were in New Orleans, and that was my favorite tour stop ever. It was so fun, my whole family came to be there for that one . . . and that’s just a trumpet player’s dream. I would bring my trumpet everywhere I went, and you’d be surprised how much playing I did just walking around, even before the show in a coffee shop, or at a restaurant, there’d be a quartet, and they’d see me and be like, “You wanna play?” Or after the show we’d go to a bar or jazz club or something where [musicians] are all playing and I’d hop up with them.
I actually got to play at Preservation Hall, which was a big deal for me. That’s a huge historic jazz club in the world, but in New Orleans specifically, that’s like the place to go if you are visiting. So I [went to] see a show, I was sitting in the front row. Wendell Brunious was the trumpet player there, he’s the band leader, and I’ve always been a big fan of him. I’ve listened to his recordings growing up. So I got to see him play live, which is really special for me, and he saw me in the front row kind of like fingering along to something he was playing – this is just something trumpet players do, for the valves – and he saw my hands and asked, ‘trumpet player?’
And I was like, ‘Yes!’
And he asked, ‘What do you do?’
And we stopped the concert for a minute [while] he was talking to me, and I told him, ‘Oh, I’m in the Broadway show down the street, playing at the theater, I’m on that tour for work, I’m a big fan of yours.’
And he was like, ‘Oh my gosh! Bring your trumpet next time and I’ll get you on the set tomorrow.’
And I was like, ‘What!’
I couldn’t believe he was asking me to do that, this idol of mine. So that was really cool for me in New Orleans because I showed up to this concert and talked to him, and the next day I showed up and played on the set. . . I just make a point to talk to people and get to know everybody because you never know when you are going to use that connection or what kind of experiences you are going to get.
EMF: Wow, that’s so much adventure and that doesn’t happen every day. How long is the tour?
Sophie: This tour’s been out for about five years now . . . We are closing this May, and then people will move onto something else. It is likely I’ll get the offer to do another show/another tour, or I can just choose to stay in New York, because this summer I’ll be subbing on a couple Broadway shows. Which is cool and exciting, and if I’m subbing enough, that will make me the same amount of money as I do here. And I also want my life to be in New York, you know. So I may just stay there, it depends on how much I’m gigging. . . We’ll see, it’s a little spooky when you don’t know what’s next, that’s’ kind of the life of a freelance musician, but so far the phone’s been ringing and hopefully that continues.
EMF: How do you deal with fear or doubt with the risk that you don’t always know what’s next in the near future?
Sophie: It can definitely be scary if you’re kind of a planner and you want to know what’s next and everything, and I think especially as I will get older and have more bills, more taxes and all that and pay more in rent, it becomes a little spooky in your adult life to not know exactly what your annual income’s going to be and exactly what gigs are going to happen. . . Sometimes, [for example] a presenter decides to not put on the show, or there’s a battle with a union, there’s just all these things that could happen . . . [you can think] ‘Okay, these are going to be finances for the year, I have this big job, I have this to look forward to,-‘ and then something gets taken away.
But, there’s always going to be more work, there’s always going to be more performances happening, and somebody’s going to be doing it, it might as well be me, that’s kind of my philosophy. As long as I’m doing what I’m doing to the best of my ability, and still making these connections, and the phone’s still ringing, I’m still happy to be here and to be doing this.
EMF: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you were an EMF student, or what advice would you give to incoming EMF students?
Sophie: Yeah! I like that question. I would say a couple things: I would say don’t limit yourself. I had thought there was only one way to make money with my trumpet and that it’s classical music. And then I learned that I enjoy playing a ton of different styles. And I still play classical music but I do a ton of different things, and that is all possible. So, you kind of can do these summer festivals and find what you love by just trying everything. And you may know right away that ‘This is what I want,’ or you may not. Like, my story kind of jumped around. So, I would say don’t limit yourself to thinking there is only one path, there’s a million.
And another thing I would say is, connect with people. Take advantage of your time there. Especially at EMF, I just remember that summer being so social, we all got so close so quickly just by having a blast with each other and making beautiful music together and I really remember enjoying the trumpet studio so much. We . . . are still in touch and get each other work. And that’s a cool thing that can happen through your connection there, and through your connections anywhere, by making friends with these people. My mantra is to ‘Show up, play well, make friends.’ That’s something that I always try to do that served me well in college, and it’s served me well professionally. I remember that that happens very easily at a festival like [EMF].
EMF: I love that mantra! Last question – what’s something that you are looking forward to?
Sophie: I’m looking forward to what’s next. I’ve been playing Fiddler now for about 350 shows you know, so that’s a lot of Fiddler on the Roof. And I still love it, but it’s exciting to me that I have new things to play coming up. I’ve got a really exciting gig in a couple of weeks [in April], I’ll be doing the Ragtime Revival concert with the original Broadway cast, and a lot of very famous people will be on stage with me. It’s like a big Broadway deal and it’s just a one-night concert, and it’s my chair, I’m not just subbing on it. That’s exciting for me, because that’s not something that normally happens this quickly, so I’m really looking forward to that opportunity and to get to play with all these other people who are chair holders on Broadway. I have my own show on tour, but it’s harder to break in New York when there are people who have been doing it for 60 years. And I’m excited to sub this summer. Subbing is fun because you get to play on a bunch of different shows, it’s not just the same you know. I just have had my trumpet take me many cool places! So I’m excited to see where else it goes. I was in a Harry Styles music video a few months ago, what the heck! You know, wild. So, I don’t know, I’m [just] excited to see what other opportunities come my way with this line of work.
EMF: Anything else?
Sophie: I loved my experience [at EMF], I really really did, and would recommend if people get in that they go. It’s a really great experience and obviously is still a part of my life, I would say that it was a beginning of a lot for me. It’s been cool to see where this trumpet has taken me since [EMF], which is when I really started to take it seriously.
To keep up to date with Sophie and her work, you can check out her website at sophiemanoloff.com.