Pre-Concert Chats with Dr. Sophie Benn

Arrive early to get more from your concert experience! Join us 45 minutes before the start of all IBO subscription concerts for our Pre-Concert Chats.

These casual, informative discussions are free to all ticket holders. Led by Dr. Sophie Benn, they are designed to enhance your musical journey with:

• Historical Context: Dive into the origins of the repertoire.

• Instrument Demonstrations: Learn about the unique mechanics of period instruments.

• Musical Anecdotes: Hear the stories behind the composers and the music.

• Listening Examples: Discover what to listen for during the performance.

Dr. Sophie Benn
Assistant professor of musicology in the Jordan College of the Arts and affiliate faculty in the Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Butler University

Sophie Benn, PhD, enjoys a multifaceted career as a musicologist and cellist. She is an assistant professor of musicology in the Jordan College of the Arts and affiliate faculty in the Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Butler University. Dr. Benn’s research centers on topics of dance, identity, and performance practice in France and the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a cellist and baroque cellist, Dr. Benn is a frequent performer on faculty recitals at Butler University as well as in chamber music concerts across Indianapolis and the surrounding region. Between 2017 and 2021, she was Director of Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP), an organization dedicated to new and experimental music that she co-founded with the saxophonist Noa Even. She is also active as a board member of several music nonprofit organizations including as Board President for the medieval music ensemble Trobár. A proud Midwesterner, she lives in Indianapolis with her husband Nick, a musicologist who works in the music industry, and their two cats, who have no careers to speak of.