Sophie Kauer was born in 2001 in London and holds both British and German citizenship. She began cello at age eight and studied for seven years on scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department under Melissa Phelps, then enrolled at the Norwegian Academy of Music in 2020 to study with Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen.

Kauer gained wide public attention for her screen debut in Todd Field’s 2022 film Tár, playing cellist Olga opposite Cate Blanchett and recording portions of Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra for the soundtrack. She was named Woking Music Festival’s “Young Musician of the Year” in 2019, signed to Deutsche Grammophon in March 2023, and her recording of Clara Schumann’s Romance Op. 22 topped the Billboard Classical On-Demand chart in 2023, making her the youngest artist to reach that position since the chart began.