CV
Sofia Lazopoulou is an award winning Greek American vocalist, voice instructor and recording artist who has been singing professionally since 1993.
Her love and talent for singing began to show at a very early age. After having extensive, private vocal training for many years with the legendary voice professor at the New Bulgarian University, Vicky Almazidou, as well as attending the "Synchrono Conservatory Of Thessaloniki”, she continued her musical education by attending “Berklee College Of Music”, under a Berklee scholarship, majoring in Performance.
Her studies focused on vocal performance in jazz, blues and r & b, contemporary and classical vocal training, as well as Vocal Pedagogy-being a voice teacher. (Dean’s list 2003, 2004, G.P.A 3.9)
Her musical influences have been Diane Schuur -Sofia had the honor and pleasure to perform with Diane at the "Half Note" jazz club in Athens Greece- Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Eva Cassidy to name a few.
During her career, Sofia performed at numerous jazz clubs, piano bars, music halls, 5 star hotels and resorts, with her own band and trio, in the US and abroad ( like the “Hyatt Regency Hotel and Casino”, “Sani Beach Hotel and resort”, Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center e.tc.), sang backround vocals in many recording albums and also gave performances at vocal competitions. In May 2001, she took part in the European Vocal Competition"SARANDEV",where she was awarded with the 1st prize/Grand Prix, "Sarandev" award for Best Vocalist out of all contestant categories. In May 2002, she entered the "DISCOVERY"International Vocal competition,where she was awarded with the 2nd prize out of 20 countries.
She now is invited to serve as a guest judge in vocal competitions in Europe.
Sofia also released her personal solo album, by "Smile Records", entitled "Journey to a dream", in which she included her own original compositions.
She is currently residing in Athens, Greece where she performs with her own jazz trio/quartet , with exceptional musicians such as Nikos Korpas, Nikos Sumvoulidis, Paris Gagastathis, Theodosios Kosmidis, Dinos Manos, Vaggelis Koutsotolis and many more.
Besides being an active performer, Sofia is also a dedicated voice teacher with years of experience- proud member of “The National Association Of Teachers Of Singing”- New York Chapter.
She is teaching contemporary singing at the country's largest conservatory "Philippos Nakas Conservatory"- A Berklee College Of Music Global Partner-, where she's teaching private lessons, vocal labs and has also taught seminars and vocal workshops in collaboration with Berklee College Of Music professors Steve Santoro and Brian Zalmijn. She teaches the Berklee curriculum in her labs and private instruction and so students are able to transfer the credits to Berklee . Her students have earned numerous scholarships from Berklee College Of Music and music universities around the world. Sofia has the highest success rate in Berklee Scholarships earned by her students.
Sofia is the vocal coach for the largest record label in Greece "Panik Records" training and preparing singers for their recording sessions and live performances. Sofia was the vocal coach for the popular tv vocal competition "Junior Music Stars", the tv show "Your face sounds familiar" and the tv show "Eeeee". Sofia's students include well known pop artists such as Katerina Stikoudi, Marilena Animado, rapper and singer El Zerraw from the band "Vegas", model and singer Dimitris Tatarakis and many more.
Sofia's diverse backround, education, extensive experience and her true passion for singing have allowed her to conquer outstanding musical achievements and she continues to inspire her students to reach their highest potential, dreams and goals with great success.
Sofia Lazopoulou
COURSE
Voice performance | International repertory labs | Stage performance labs