Sophie-Véronique Colette Claude Cauchefer-Choplin (née Cauchefer, born 28 December 1959) is a French organist.Official website of Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin
(in French). Retrieved 15 February 2022.Royal College of Music
Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin. Accessed on 13 December 2021.Yale University, Institute of Sacred Music
Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, organist. Accessed on 13 December 2021.

Early life

Born into a family of musicians in

Nogent-le-Rotrou Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is li ...

(

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, France), Cauchefer-Choplin began

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

lessons at a young age and took up the organ at the age of 14. She studied at the École National de Musique in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

and was awarded a prize by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...

in 1980. Continuing her studies at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

under

Rolande Falcinelli Rolande Roberte Ginabat-Falcinelli (18 February 1920 – 11 June 2006) was a French organist, pianist, composer, and music educator. Biography Rolande Falcinelli (born Ginabat), the grandniece of Marcel Falcinelli and granddaughter of Louis N ...

, she won first prize in organ and improvisation, as well as prizes in harmony,

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

and

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

. In 1990, after further training with Loïc Mallié, she became the first woman to win the second prize in improvisation at the Chartres International Organ Improvisation Competition.

Career

In 1983 Cauchefer-Choplin was appointed organist at the Church of Saint Jean-Baptiste-de-la-Salle in Paris, stepping down from the role in 2013. In 1985, she was appointed to the position of co-titular organist at the

Church of Saint-Sulpice , image = Paris Saint-Sulpice Fassade 4-5 A.jpg , image_size = , pushpin map = Paris , pushpin label position = , coordinates = , location = Place Saint-Sulpice 6th arrond ...

, alongside Daniel Roth, having auditioned while pregnant. She has been a professor at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

since 2008 and a visiting professor at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in the United States of America. Cauchefer-Choplin gives concerts and improvisation masterclasses around the world and serves on the juries of national and international competitions. She has released several CDs of her recordings.France Orgue
List of CDs released by Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin (in French). Retrieved 15 February 2022.

Personal life

Her brother is the cellist Pierre Cauchefer and her daughter Pauline is an actress.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cauchefer-Choplin, Sophie-Véronique 1959 births Living people People from Nogent-le-Rotrou Conservatoire de Paris alumni Women organists 20th-century organists 21st-century organists Academics of the Royal College of Music