SOFIA LAZOPOULOU

         

 

       "Sofia is clearly working at a high level musically and professionally.

        She is one of the best voice teachers i have encountered in my whole career.

        I was moved when i saw what she had accomplished with her students and

        moved again when i had the good fortune to sing with her. She's a total pro.

        She's the best!" 

        =Steven Kowalczyk Santoro=

        Vocalist/Recording Artist and Full Time Associate Voice Professor

        At Berklee College Of Music

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Vocal pedagogy was always part of Sofia's life.

 Growing up in her voice teacher's studio- the well known voice professor Vicky Almazidou- vocal pedagogy was always part of her lessons. Sofia started teaching voice in Greece early on , in 1999.

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 It all felt so natural and familiar when Sofia took the Vocal Pedagogy class at Berklee College Of Music, taught by Sharon Brown.

 She  started teaching voice in New York after finishing Berklee, privately at "Michiko Studio's" in Time's Square as well as building vocal programs for music schools and conservatories like:

"The New York Conservatory Of Music, "Take A Bow Performing Arts Center" and "Cadenza Music Center".

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Sofia has the highest success rate of Berklee Scholarships earned by her students.

Her students have also won 1st place awards in vocal competitions such as the Sarandev Vocal Competition in Bulgaria, "The Voice", the Apollo Theater competition in New York , Metro Talent competition, New York, TV vocal competition"Rising Star"  and got in at well known music colleges like The Five Towns College, New York , ArtEZ  and HKU Utrecht's Conservatorium in Holland to name a few. 

She teaches students of all levels, from beginners to well known pop celebrities, recording artists such as Katerina Stikoudi, Mike, Zerraw from the band "Vegas", Marilena Animado, Dimitris Tatarakis to name a few.

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Sofia is currently teaching voice in Athens, Greece, in the country's largest conservatory Philippos Nakas, which is a Global Partner of Berklee College Of Music. She teaches private lessons as well as Contemporary Vocal Labs, Stage Performance labs, Ensembles and vocal seminars.

 Her labs are a part of the Berklee curriculum and students transfer the credits to Berklee.

 

Sofia has also taught a 3 day intensive Berklee vocal workshop in collaboration with Berklee voice professor Steve Santoro-Berklee in Boston and Brian Zalmijn-Berklee in Valencia, Spain

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Sofia teaches all contemporary genres like jazz, blues, r & b, pop, rock, soul, funk as well as classical singing.

She uses elements of yoga ,meditation, Speech Level Singing and the techniques she learned in voice therapy seminars in the US to create a lesson that adjusts to the different needs of every student.

Sofia had the privilege of having exquisite teachers like Gabrielle Goodman and Kudisan Kai, (backround singers for Chaka Kan, Patti La Belle, Robeta Flack) Lisa Thorson , Sharon Brown, Kathryn Wright, Didi Stewart, Ann Dolan and is now keeping tradition with everything she was taught.

 

She is also a proud member of "The National Association Of Teachers Of Singing" New York chapter.

 

Sofia is the vocal coach of the largest record label in Greece, "Panik Records", training and preparing singers for their recording sessions and live high level performances. She was a vocal coach for the popular TV vocal competition "Junior Music Stars" and also for the TV show , "Your face sounds familiar" and "Eeee".

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Sofia is also invited each year to be a member of the jury in important vocal competitions in Europe.

She often travels to Dobrich, Bulgaria,  to participate in her beloved European vocal competition 'Sarandev", (where she was awarded with the Grand Prix in 2001) now sitting in the judges chair.

Sofia always goes the extra mile for her students and takes great pride at being a mentor for them, not just a voice teacher. She loves to innitiate and organize trips with her students and support them in performing in vocal competitions in Europe, making great connections and friendships between countries and musicians as well as helping her students gain valuable performance experience.

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Sofia passionately loves teaching, she considers it to be one of the greatest joys of her life and firmly believes that a good teacher is always a student.

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She finds teaching incredibly fulfilling and rewarding and is always learning from her students too!