Sofía Cancino de Cuevas first quartet for strings, catalogued as Op. 1. In 1940, she received an honorable mention for her symphonic poem "El gallo en Pátzcuaro" for orchestra and male choir, in a contest organized by UNAM. In 1941 she directed the presentation of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" at the Arbeu theater, with the participation of singers (baritone), Carlos Mejía (tenor), and Margarita Cueto (soprano), among others. This made her Mexico's first female conductor. In 1944 she founded the Opera School, with which she conducted "La serva padrona" by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, "Bastien und Bastienne" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and "Il matrimonio segreto" by
Claire Gibault "West Side Story". She has also conducted "Pelléas et Mélisande" (Covent Garden, London), "Le Comte Ory" (Glyndebourne Festival), "Cosi fan tutte" (Opera North), Chabrier's "L'étoile" (Edinburgh Festival), "Zaïde" and "Der Schauspieldirektor" (Bastille), "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges" (Châtelet), Boîeldieu's "La Dame Blanche" (Opéra-Comique, Paris), "Mitridate", "La Donna del lago", "Die Zauberflöte", "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Bastien und Bastienne" (Nice), "La Clemenza di Tito" (Orléans), "La Traviata" (Nancy), "Idomeneo" and "Cosi fan tutte" (Liège), "Maria Stuarda" (Torino), "La Cenerentola" (Rome) and "Les Oiseaux de passage" (Bologna). She was Claudio Abbado's assistant for "Pelléas et Mélisande" at the Royal Opera House, La