New Voice Teacher to Join Faculty

The Penn State School of Music is pleased to welcome lyric coloratura soprano Rachel Copeland as a new faculty member. She will begin her duties at Penn State in fall 2018.

Rachel E. Copeland is currently on the faculty of East Carolina University School of Music where she is the coordinator of graduate studies and teaches voice and diction courses. She recently completed her doctorate at Indiana University, where she continues to study with Distinguished Professor of Music Timothy Noble and coaches with Carol Vaness. She has also studied various roles under the guidance of Martina Arroyo and Patricia Wise.

As Copeland's career and reputation continue to grow, the 2015-2017 seasons saw her at Avery Fisher Hall as the soprano soloist in Mozart?s ?Coronation Mass,? as well as debuts with Asheville Lyric Opera, Wilmington Opera, the Helena Symphony (MT), a series of recitals throughout Ontario, Canada, Scotland, and England, the Choral Society of Durham (NC), and repeat engagements in North Carolina Opera?s Rusalka and Das Rheingold, and Cleveland Opera Theater. Recent seasons included Copeland?s debut with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra in a concert of arias and duets with the highly acclaimed 2012 Operalia winner, Anthony Roth Costanzo. The season continued with multiple North Carolina recitals and performances, notably with the East Carolina University Symphony as the soprano soloist in Hadyn?s ?Lord Nelson Mass? as well as repeat engagements with Opera per Tutti as Lauretta in Puccini?s beloved Gianni Schicchi as well as North Carolina Opera.

In the 2011 - 2012 season, Copeland returned to Apollo?s Fire debuting as Queen of the Night in Mozart?s The Magic Flute, including a national broadcast and her debut at Severance Hall, the prestigious home to the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. She also debuted with Opera North Carolina as Frasquita in their fall production of Bizet?s Carmen as well as a return to Opera Per Tutti as Musetta in La bohËme. †She was also the soprano soloist in Handel?s ?Messiah? with East Carolina University Symphony.

The 2010 - 2011 season was filled with exciting and wonderful opportunities. It began with a debut of the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus, followed by an engagement with the prestigious Baroque Orchestra Apollo's Fire for Handel's ?Messiah.? In the spring, Copeland returned to Indianapolis Opera to sing the role of Micaela in Peter Brook's La TragÈdie de Carmen. In May, she made her company debut to rave reviews at San Diego Opera singing Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen. The summer of 2011 saw Dr. Copeland singing Adina in Donizetti?s famous L?elisir d?amore in Cortona, Italy, followed by a voice faculty position at Musica nelle Marche in Urbania, Italy.

Copeland began the 2009 - 2010 season as a Guest Artist at the International Pediatric Endocinology Lawson-Wilkens Society President's Concert in New York City. Shortly thereafter, she appeared as a guest recitalist at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio where she frequently coaches. She also reprised the role of Musetta and debuted the role of Mercedes in Carmen. In the spring, Ms. Copeland premiered the role of Syvia Varescu, a fiesty gypsy lover, in Kalman's The Csardas Princess under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor Andrzej Knap. In the following months, she covered the title roles of Lucia di Lammermoor with Cleveland Opera and Romeo et Juliette with San Diego Opera. In July, Copeland made her Italian debut as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. To finish the summer, Copeland joined the voice faculty of Musica nelle Marche in Urbania, Italy.

In the 2008 - 2009 season, Copeland sang with New Jersey Opera as the cover for the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor and with the San Diego Opera as their Young Artist, performing the roles of Fiordiligi in CosÏ fan tutte and Nell in Rumpelstiltskin.

Other performances include her appearance with Indianapolis Opera as Papagena in The Magic Flute, Musetta in La bohËme at DuPage Opera, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance at Louisiana Lyric Opera, and at Indiana University Opera Theater as Zdenka in Strauss?s Arabella and as Peep-Bo in The Mikado.

For more information, please visit Rachel Copeland's website.