A woman in the Whiffs

Mark Ostow

View full image

For the first time since their founding in 1909, the Yale Whiffenpoofs will not be exclusively “gentleman songsters” next year. Following the announcement this winter that the Whiffs (and the traditionally all-female group Whim ’n Rhythm) would be open to all genders, Sofía Campoamor ’19 auditioned and was tapped for the 2019 Whiffenpoofs. “To have a year to sing semi-professionally and tour around the world is an amazing opportunity,” says Campoamor. She is currently music director of the all-gender group Mixed Company, for whom she has also composed and arranged music. “She’s an incredibly musical person,” fellow Mixed Company member Nancy Walecki ’20 told the Yale Daily News. “She immediately knows what the music on the page wants to say and how best to say it.” Campoamor sings soprano in Mixed Company, but she has the range for the high tenor parts in Whiffenpoof arrangements.

Is she daunted by the idea of being the only woman traveling with 13 men? Nah. “A lot of them are my friends already,” she says, “and it’s not an issue as long as people have respect for each other.”