Sofija Astakhov, born in 1987, comes from a Ukrainian musical family. Her passion for music emerged early in childhood. She began with piano lessons and started playing the clarinet at the age of eight.

She studied at the specialized music school in Kotor (Montenegro). After graduating in 2003, she continued her education at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich under Prof. Ulf Rodenhäuser and at the Staatliche Musikhochschule in Freiburg under Prof. Jörg Widmann.

A major focus of her musical career is collaboration with contemporary composers. As early as 1999, prominent Yugoslav composer Dejan Despić dedicated a piece for clarinet, piano, and orchestra entitled Music for Sonja, which premiered that same year at the Lviv Philharmonic and later in the Kolarac Concert Hall in Belgrade.

During her studies, she was a five-year member of the Munich contemporary music ensemble Oktopus, led by composer Prof. Konstantia Gourzi. At the same time, she performed as a soloist and chamber musician at numerous festivals, including Kissinger Sommer, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Münchener Biennale, Max-Reger-Tage Weiden, Max-Reger-Forum Leipzig, Kloster Seeon, Mozartiade – Schwäbischer Musiksommer, Pavarotti Music Center Mostar, and with the Lviv, Niš, and Luxembourg Philharmonics, as well as at Kolarac Hall in Belgrade.

She gained valuable orchestral experience with various ensembles such as the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich, Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt, Junge Philharmonie Köln, and the Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg.

In 2012, she received the Oscar und Vera Ritter-Stiftung Award and became a finalist in the Second International Clarinet Competition in Freiburg.

She currently serves as principal clarinetist of the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Munich and performs with the Frankfurt Philharmonic and the Westfalen Festival Orchestra.

She teaches clarinet and saxophone at music schools in Neuenstadt and Möckmühl and conducts the wind orchestra Musikverein Siegelsbach.