Young Sebastopol violist hits the big time

The old joke about “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” (“Keep practicing”) hits the mark for 12-year-old violist Sophia Valenti of Santa Rosa.

Since being accepted as the youngest member of the San Francisco Youth Orchestra in August, Sophia has upped her practice time on the viola from four to at least five hours a day, and she now studies with Jodi Levitz of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

“It’s really hard to get in with her,” said Clementina Valenti, Sophia’s mother and self-described “personal assistant.” “She told me ‘I don’t take kids. I’m teaching college students.”

But after Levitz heard Sophia’s warm tone and technique, the teacher took her on. That means Sophia’s schedule each Saturday has become all viola, all the time.

“She wakes up very early, we leave at 8 a.m., and she gets there by 9:15 a.m. and she warms up for 45 minutes, then she sees Jodi for an hour and a half,” Clementina said. “Then she takes a break, goes into Davies Hall and warms up for another hour. Then she rehearses from 1 to 5 p.m.”

The 5-foot-5 violist, now a sixth grader at the Sebastopol Independent Charter School, first picked up the violin in third grade at the Waldorf-based school, where violinist Cynthia Albers serves as music director. Sophia soon switched to the viola and started taking lessons from local violinist Ivy Zenobi, who encouraged her to practice at least four hours per day.

“Talent can only get you so far,” Zenobi said. “It’s how hard you practice and the quality of practice that takes one to the top.”

Despite her recent successes, Sophia still performs in her school’s sixth-grade ensemble as well as The Young People’s Chamber Orchestra, a Santa Rosa Symphony Youth Ensemble first founded by violist Linda Ghidossi-DeLuca, who taught Sophia during the summer of 2013.

“Her technique went through the roof,” Clementina said. “I told her, ‘You’re learning your instrument in dog years.’”

Sophia is currently working on repertoire for a three-week European tour this summer with the San Francisco Youth Orchestra. Because she is under 13, she must be accompanied by her mother and a chaperone, but in all other aspects, she will be treated as a professional.

“She’s always been very driven at what she does,” her mother said. “She doesn’t do anything halfway.”

Sophia and her mother are raising $3,700 each to pay for the tour. To support the effort, go to her Gofundme page here.