Hayes School of Music

Voice Instructors at the Community Music School

Learn more about private music lessons here! Please note the instructor's level (Apprentice, Master, or Professional) to determine the rates for the lessons. 

Master 

Amber Joy Koeppen, voice

Amber Joy Koeppen (Carpenter), Instructor of Harp at the Hayes School of Music, is a harpist and vocalist and an avid teacher in both disciplines. She has received degrees in Harp Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from UNC Charlotte and a Masters in Music from the University of Michigan. 

As a solo performer, she has been a prize winner in a number of national and international harp competitions, including being awarded First Place in the Rosen-Schaffel Competition for Young and Emerging Artists. As a recipient of this award, she has twice been a guest concerto artist with the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Schwarz. In addition to her extensive solo work, Mrs. Koeppen has also performed with the New York City Ballet, the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, and the Union Symphony Orchestra, as well as various chamber groups. She has performed across the United States and abroad, including the World Harp Congress in Sydney, Australia, and has lectured at the WAAE music education conference in Auckland, New Zealand.

Mrs. Koeppen also maintains an active teaching career. She has taught at various summer music programs including Interlochen Center for the Arts and the American Harp Society’s Camp Innovation, and she has helped to found and run Brush Strokes and Music Notes’ summer program for children which incorporates a diverse body of students from various backgrounds in a week of arts and music immersion. She has been the Music Director and a member of the vocal and harp faculty of GreenSpring International Academy of Music and also has a private music studio offering harp and voice lessons to both children and adults. Her students are active musicians who have been accepted into notable music programs, performed in venues such as the White House and Biltmore Estate, and have been prize winners in solo competitions.

Apprentice

Sofi Rohlman, voice

Sofi Rohlman is a senior at Appalachian State University double majoring in Vocal Performance and Music Industry Studies with a concentration in Marketing and Promotion. In previous years Sofi has been in Appalachian Opera Theatre’s production of Myths and Hymns, performed as Mrs. Jenks in The Tender Land by Aaron Copland, sang as Saeva in the premiere of Firelight by Hayley Turner, and performed the role of Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. In the fall of 2022, Sofi won the Hayes School of Music Concerto-Aria Competition at Appalachian State University and performed alongside the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra in the spring of 2023. During the summer of 2023 Sofi participated in an Opera Scenes program singing scenes as Zerlina from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Alcina from Handel’s Alcina, and Nannetta from Verdi’s Falstaff, and performed the role of Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica with Opera Seme in Arezzo, Italy. This past fall she performed with the Symphony of the Mountains alongside Roy Cornelius Smith. She is currently singing with The Hayes School of Music’s University Singers and Chamber Singers and is a Prism Scholar through these ensembles. She also performs and assists with the Appalachian Chorale through the Community Music School at Appalachian State University. Sofi has been studying voice for 8 years and enjoys teaching to anyone who wants to learn!