Lara Sophie Schmitt was born and raised in Vienna and began her musical education at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität as a junior student with Prof. Herbert Müller. Her studies later took her to Lübeck, Paris, Frankfurt/Main and Munich. Her teachers include Jean Sulem and Hariolf Schlichtig. In the 2018/19 season she held the position of 1st solo viola at the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich, followed by further engagements at the Bavarian State Opera. She gained further orchestral experience during her studies with the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.
During her studies, she devoted herself intensively to chamber music and the performance of contemporary works. As a duo with pianist Toni Ming Geiger, she won the Kamar Percy and Ingeborg John Prize in 2018, which included a CD recording. In the same year, she won 2nd prize at the International Hindemith Viola Competition. In 2014 she participated in the CD production "noch:schon - Musik an der Schwelle", for which she recorded B.A. Zimmermann's Sonata for Viola solo as well as G. Mahler's Piano Quartet.
She was a scholarship holder of the Cusanuswerk as well as the PE-Förderkreis for students of music.