Sofia Eugenia Koutsovitis, known professionally as Sofia Rei, is an Argentinian vocalist, songwriter, producer, and educator. A classically trained mezzo-soprano, Rei's influences include South American folk styles, jazz, pop, new classical and electronic music. Singing in Spanish, English and Portuguese, her voice was described by The Boston Globe as "possessing a voluptuously full voice, comprehensive command of Latin American rhythms, and encyclopedic knowledge of folkloric forms from Argentina, Peru, Colombia, and Uruguay." She was born and raised in Buenos Aires and has been based in New York since 2005. Two of her albums won Independent Music Awards for Best Album in the World Beat category. She has worked with John Zorn, Bobby McFerrin, Marc Ribot, and Maria Schneider. She is the co-founder of El Colectivo Sur, an arts collective based in New York City that aims to increase public awareness of South American music and assemble diverse communities. She curates its flagship program, the New York City South American Music Festival. She teaches at Berklee College of Music's Global Initiatives, including its itinerant program Berklee Latino directed by Oscar Stagnaro and Javier Limón. Early life and education Rei was born in Buenos Aires to Andres Koutsovitis, a civil engineer, and Maria Cristina Reigadas, a philosopher, professor and researcher. She began to study music at 4, and as a child she sang with vocal groups and school choirs. She began her professional career at nine as a member of the Colón Teatro Children's Choir, and later joined Argentina's National Children's Choir at Teatro Nacional Cervantes. Rei stopped performing professionally as she started high school at Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires. She discovered punk rock, and started to play the drums, but sang mainly "in the shower." She returned to her formal music education in college as a voice major at the National Conservatory. As an undergraduate, Rei studied opera with Professor Marta Blanco. In 1997, she joined the National Youth Choir of Argentina (CONAJO) under the direction of Maestro Nestor Zadoff, as a contralto. Her musical interests extended beyond the classical world, however, and she led "a double life" as a "properly educated classical singer during the day and everything else at night." At 19, she was exposed to jazz for the first time and began to learn about vocal improvisation, frequently working with young composers and exploring ways to use her voice as she premiered their new works. Fully immersed