In only grade 11, Sophia Tice is already an accomplished singer and songwriter, plays guitar and piano, and now, is the “local” headliner for the Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s first Live and Local show of the 2022–2023 season on October 30.
This Burlington teenager says that she has been singing since she could talk, and started playing the piano at age 7, on her own. She then asked her mom Anne-Marie if she could take lessons, which she is still doing today. Sophia also took guitar lessons for a year, but has always wanted to play like her dad Kevin, so asked him to teach her after that first year.
Kevin Tice is a musician himself, and Sophia grew up with him playing guitar all the time. Sophia remembers her dad playing fast Scottish and Irish songs in their house in the U.K., where she was born, and she and her two older sisters would listen, rapt. Sophia would memorize these Celtic songs “that go a million miles a minute” — and that is how she learned to memorize music.
Besides her dad, Sophia cites Nina Simone and Jim Croce as early inspirations. She remembers hearing “Feeling Good” for the first time and immediately wanting to be a musician, and using Nina Simone for stylistic inspiration — and this at the age of 9 or 10.
Sophia’s style varies between songs, from indie-pop to indie-folk, with jazz influences coming through in some of her music. Dad Kevin calls Sophia’s music “multi-genre,” and Sophia notes that her style depends on the instrument she is playing: when she plays guitar, the music tends to lean towards folk, and with the piano, she tends towards jazz, soul, and blues.
When COVID hit, Kevin decided that a cool pandemic project would be to build a recording studio in the family’s basement, and they now do all their recording at home. With their at-home set-up, instruments can be connected directly into their laptop to produce their own music — Kevin is teaching Sophia how to produce now. She favours a live studio sound and loves when people listen to her music and feel like she’s right there in the room with them.
Sophia has big dreams for herself, all of them involving music; her excitement about everything music is contagious. She wants to study music business or composition, a more informal study of music, as “music has always been so fun for me, I don’t want it to be work,” and hopes especially to go to New York’s highly-competitive Clive Davis Institute. Sophia would love to be an independent recording artist, and notes that social media has and will continue to change the music industry, giving artists more free rein in their work, the ability to make it big without being signed by a major label.
In the meantime, though, Sophia has released three singles on Spotify, Apple Music, “all the streaming platforms,” and loves to do charity performances, particularly for the Lighthouse for Grieving Children & Families. Fitting for a young woman who got into music to help people, as, she says, “hearing music that relates to you is healing.”
She is also, of course, performing at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre (BPAC) with headliner Suzie Vinnick and hosted by the Mark Lalama Trio, of whom Sophia says, “I’ve never heard a tighter band in my life.” Sophia is excited to play with the Mark Lalama Trio — she says that though they will only rehearse maybe once together, it will be excellent, because they always “sound so tight.”
Daniel Durst, who has his own Desjardins agency in Burlington, is the sponsor of the Live and Local series, and also has great things to say about the Mark Lalama Trio, always enjoying watching these “amazing performers.” Dan describes himself as a “budding musician” who has been playing guitar for the last 50 years, and is “in awe of people who can do it well.”
This is his second year sponsoring Live and Local. He chose to sponsor this series for a few reasons, one of which is his own love of any live performance, be it sport, music, or theatre. He notes that the pandemic hit the performing arts particularly hard, and to come back out into the community, supporting the arts, seeing live music, and socializing, is such a great opportunity. Another reason is that there is so much talent in Burlington, so Dan appreciates being able to support this series, develop local talent, and give people the opportunity to see great artists from the area.
Community connections are another important piece for Dan, both in his business and via this sponsorship. When asked about his insurance and investment business, Dan noted that because he runs his own agency, he and his team have the ability to really get to know clients in order to provide them with what they need. These personal relationships are clearly important to him; he says that his team have been invited to clients’ homes for dinner, to weddings. This valuing of connections can be heard as well when he talks about the Live and Local series: it means that local artists can play in front of friends, family, and neighbours, and the timing of the shows (starting at 4 p.m. on a Sunday) means that the audience is eclectic, with all ages coming to join in.
Dan loves BPAC for its wonderful acoustics, and that it is large enough for a crowd, but also has the smaller stage for more intimate performances. Of Burlington in general, he says that there are great restaurants — and he is excited to watch Sophia’s performance on October 30.
As for Sophia, we asked her about her favourite place in Burlington as well, and while she says that there are “so many things I love here,” her favourite restaurant is the Express Italian Eatery on Lakeshore. But her number one favourite place in Burlington? JC’s Hot Bagels. She says, “it’s the best place on earth, if you ask me.”
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To see Sophia perform at the Live and Local show with headliner Suzie Vinnick and hosted by the Mark Lalama Trio, you can purchase tickets in person at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre box office (440 Locust Street, open from Tues. to Sat., 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and one hour prior to a performance), over the phone at 905-681-6000,or online (click here).
