Biography

Sophia Wang is a PhD candidate in Music Education at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include policy, cross-sectoral involvement, and paradigm shifts in music education. Her current dissertation research examines how school music festivals function as events and networks through which private sector and social economy actors shape the provision of public school music education in Canada. Previously, she has conducted research on repertoire diversity initiatives and Canadian repertoire in the wind band paradigm. Her doctoral studies are supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) CGS-D and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS).

Sophia currently works as a Research Assistant for Professor Antía González Ben's project, "The Pedagogical Ear: How Teachers Listen for Race in Multicultural Canada" and has previously worked for Professor Nasim Niknafs’s project, "Sanctuary City: Cultural Programs, Music Education, and the Dignified Lives of Refugee Newcomers in Toronto." Prior to graduate studies, Sophia was a classroom teacher in an Ontario-based ESL program in Taiwan.

In student leadership and academic service at the University of Toronto, Sophia currently serves as the President (2026-27) of the Music Graduate Students' Association (MGSA). She previously served on the Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association (FMUA) as President (2016-17), Music Education Representative (2015-16), and First Year Representative (2014-15) and received a Student Engagement in the Arts Award as well as a Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award in 2018 for her contributions as a student leader.

As a flutist and piccoloist, Sophia has twice won awards for leadership, professionalism, and artistic excellence as a member of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (2013-15). She has also been a member of the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra (2012-13), the 10th and 11th Annual Ontario Provincial Honour Band (2012; 2013), and the UofT Symphony Orchestra (2015-16), Wind Ensemble (2016-18), and Wind Symphony (2014-15). On the podium, Sophia has been Assistant Conductor of the UofT Wind Ensemble (2022-23) and Co-Music Director of the BEd Musical at Queen’s University (2019). Sophia’s primary teachers include Stephen Tam and Camille Watts for flute and piccolo as well as Gillian MacKay, Jeff Reynolds, and Uri Mayer for conducting.

Sophia is an Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) and an alumna of the University of Toronto (Mus.Bac. '18; MA '23) and Queen's University (B.Ed. '19).

[Last updated: September 2026]