Name: Sofia Will
Nationality: German
Occupation: Saxophonist, composer, improviser
Current release: Sofia Will assembled her large ensemble, VOLO, for their album Moguntia, out via unit.
Recommendation for Mainz, Germany: In the city where I lived during my bachelor and which my latest album “MOGUNTIA” (Latin for Mainz) is about, my all-time favourite place is the Zollhafen, an old harbour with old shipping cranes. Old industrial buildings meet modern housing and private boats sway around in the water, seagulls are screeching and you can sit in the grass or on a bench and watch the Rhine River. Far in the distance there is a train bridge and you can get a coffee at the nearby café. It feels like going to the beach and you can escape from the city life.

If you enjoyed this Sofia Will interview and would like to stay up to date with her music and performances, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram.



Many musicians I am talking to at the moment feel somewhat disillusioned about the impact, meaning, and value of their work. Feel free to vent some of your own frustrations and/or disappointments – as well, if possible, something that you recently experienced (or a thought that you had) that might give hope to other creatives.

In a turbulent world like this one, especially as a young musician starting out, I get doubts all the time!

I somehow feel like my profession – making music – is not really what is needed right now. I feel the need to become active, to use my voice and sometimes it feels a bit pretentious to think that making music could do anything right now. Sometimes it even feels pointless to promote anything, because who has time to discover new music right now? There are things to worry about!

But whenever I play a concert with my music, I can feel my purpose a bit better. The smiling faces, the nice talks and feedback convince me, that my music or any music has such an important value. It’s a refuge. And it can also convey a message, it can be part of activism. People need music and lately it became even more important for me to make music for everyone and not the music scene – which is something that I keep noticing.

I’m not here to impress, I want to reach people and maybe my music can help to cope or feel understood, since I always write about real life situations or feelings.

What artists, albums, performances, or even aesthetics and philosophies are inspiring to your life in and beyond music right now and in which way? Have there been songs, albums, performances, and artists that changed / influenced your life?

My main inspiration right now are singer-songwriters. The ways these songs tell stories and sometimes stay very simple (which doesn't mean theys're easy, just clear and structured), makes me want to compose as clear as I can. Most of all, there are Joni Mitchell or Paul Simon.

Of course, one element are also the lyrics, which is something that I shy away from writing, since there are so many great writers out there already! But the melodies are even more important. And even someone like Joni, who sometimes spoke-sang her lyrics, has clear melodies, and there is always a surprise element or something that catches you.

Meanwhile, modern singer-songwriters and their big productions, like Phoebe Bridgers or Madison Cunningham, inspire me to think in layers and elements while composing. How can you support a melody and not overpower it with the horn section?

But an inspiration that has been there constantly is Beyoncé. The work ethic and her vision, creating concept albums, being intentional and working long-term to realise big projects that are interconnected – that’s something I aspire to.

Also, beyond music, I always want to be as intentional as I can and trust that things will fall into place. Her albums tell a story, they are almost like a audio-only movie. And she is honest, she makes the music she wants – of course with a big team – but that’s no reason not to be inspired on a small scale!

Tell me about some of the feedback you've received from listeners about how your work has impacted them.

This is for example a song, that I wrote about overthinking and being easily panicked and spiraling about small things, always expecting the worst. To me this feeling is like being on an endless carousel.

When I talk about this song in concerts, I always get the feedback, that people feel seen and understood, that the felt relieved that they’re not broken.

And also it feels good to acknowledge, that uncertain times like now can make these carousels even worse and they happen more easily.



What kind of music/art do you feel the world needs right now - does it need “healing,” “shaking up,” “an escape from reality,” “consolation,” “a sense of community,” “holding up a mirror,” something else?

I feel it needs all of those things! Different people need different things, so music can hold all of these functions.

But I do believe that music always needs to be authentic. If I’m a person that wants to help people, my music should also be healing, right? If I like to lead people, maybe my music would invoke a sense of community.

What are some of the non-musical topics and causes you feel strongly about? Do you keep them separate from or try to connect them to your creative work?

I am an intersectional (!) feminist and since “jazz” (better BAM, moreover the academic jazz world) is still a male-dominated field, I fight this fight everyday in music, in my projects, at university, in pedagogy, with colleagues etc.

This scene isn’t very welcoming sometimes, and there aren’t a lot of FLINTA* people because it’s hard to join a world where all the heroes are male and people talk about “man, you killed that solo” and “oh you want to join our session, cool, let’s play Cherokee – 300bpm sounds good?”.

My male bandmates regularly get mistaken for the bandleader, the sound people (and sadly it’s mostly guys – another problem) mansplain everything during soundcheck and during classes, male colleagues tell me “Oh this is a C sheet, you have to transpose it a major six up!” – me being an alto sax player for 15 years.

And then, if you’re 14 years old and just starting out, this music feels very daunting: You have to be very confident from the beginning, since this music is about improvising and letting go and trusting your musical instincts – nothing is safe. Which makes this music so great, you can express yourself!

But when all the boys, who seem super confident, in your school big band fight over the solo, a girl might feel inclined to people please and not raise their hand, since it might look like you want to take away the solo – “oh no, that would make me annoying! Maybe next time, I’m not good enough anyways.”

I’m not the only one who had those thoughts, I still have them. This is a matter of pedagogy and parental values but also the scene needs to make more of an effort in becoming more open and welcoming for everyone.

I actually made a research film about this:



French Saxophonist Sakina Abdou told me that she "witnessed a powerlessness towards a world that is in absolutely no way in line with my values," and that she hasn't "yet found a way to overcome this in ways other than music, but I admire the activists around me who do it." Can you relate to this and what does it say about the role of music in overcoming our sense of powerlessness and actually empowering us?

I can totally relate! I feel so fake sometimes! What do I know about politics? Why should I speak out, that’s pretentious! People will say “stick to the stuff you know! And I feel powerless, too. The non-musician in me wants to scream out.

But what do people expect from musicians? Maybe they want a time-out of this world and they want me to just make music? But if I have even one person at a concert, shouldn’t I use my voice? Being silent and “ignoring” the world makes me pretentious as well. And even though some would say “don’t care about what others think”, I can’t turn that off.

But I do get the feeling that my listeners feel seen with my music and it helps them cope. So that’s already empowering. I stick to what I said earlier, we need all kinds of functions of music.

How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

We wouldn’t put each other in boxes! Sometimes I think that’s the main problem. We have expectations of others, we like to judge and it makes us feel better about ourselves. It’s frustrating to meet a person for the first time and already feel like they’ve figured you out before knowing you.

Not seeing but listening more would create more diversity and equality.

It is possible for someone with an entirely different world view from your own to love or appreciate your work. How, if at all, is it possible to use this power of sound and music to enter into a dialogue?

Oh I love this question!

Since I never get to ask everyone at my concerts what they believe in, I never know for sure if there are already some listeners with whom I would probably fight if we ever had a conversation about the world. I think it’s possible, since I always draw my compositions from things that happened to me. So it’s subjective and people mostly relate, since we all encounter similar problems in life – heartbreak, hope, happiness, anger – all the feels!

However my music contains my values, not only feminism but also being frustrated with politics and the scary development with right-wing parties everywhere. I just have the hope, that my music being connected to real life events, which I always talk about at concerts, will make it easier to relate, even if you don’t agree.

So of course it can enter into a dialogue, but it has to be inviting and not connected to alienation and shame to get there.