Sofia Lourenço was born in Oporto, where she completed graduate studies at the conservatory and university. From the age of ten she was a pupil of Helena Sáe Costa and was also guided by several distinguished pianists, including Sequeira Costa, Vitaly Margulis and Alicia de Larrocha. She obtained a Soloist Diploma at the Berlin Universität der Künste and was awarded a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship.

She has been a professor at the Escola de Música e das Artes do Espetáculo do Oporto since 1991. She completed the degree of Doctor of Music and Musicology at the University of Évora in 2005, under the guidance of Rui Vieira Nery and Ulrich Mahlert. Since 2007, been a member of the Centre for Research in Science and Arts Technology at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, where she is currently undertaking post-doctoral studies.

She enjoys an active career as a performer in Portugal and abroad, with a number of recordings to her credit.