Tennessee’s Finest Young Voices

Assistant Professor, University of West Virginia DMA, University of Kentucky Hope Koehler has appeared with many opera companies and orchestras, such as Nashville Opera, Tennessee Opera Theatre, Blair Opera Theatre, MTSU Opera Theatre, University Opera Theatre in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Northland Opera Theatre Experience, Lyric Opera of the North, Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, Lexington Symphony Orchestra, and Itasca Symphony Orchestra. With these companies she has appeared in such productions as Carmen, Il Trovatore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, The Impressario, The Old Maid and the Thief, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Gianni Schicchi and many others.

At the Northland Opera Theatre in Duluth, Minnesota, she has appeared in the title roles of Tosca, Carmen, Fidelio, and Madama Butterfly. In addition, she has appeared in La Boheme (Musetta), Der Freischutz (Agathe), The Tales of Hoffmann (Giulietta), and others. Koehler’s other stage credits include operetta and musical theatre. She has appeared in such productions as The Mikado, The Sound of Music, The Pajama Game, Oklahoma, Fiddler on the Roof, and West Side Story. Koehler has performed as a soloist in oratorio and other choral orchestral works, such as Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes di confessore, Rossini’s Stabat Mater,Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) and many others.

Koehler is a regular performer and featured soloist with the American Spiritual Ensemble, a group that performs all over the world, and whose mission is to keep the American Negro Spiritual alive and vibrant. She has also been on the faculty of the prestigious Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts for seven years and in 2006 served as chair of the vocal music department. In addition, in July and August of 2006 she was a member of the voice faculty at the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. In June of 2008 Albany Records released Koehler’s recording of John Jacob Niles songs titled The Lass from the Low Countree, performed with James Douglass at the piano. Koehler received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, and her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Alabama. Her Doctor of Musical Arts degree was completed at the University of Kentucky in Lexington where she studied with tenor Everett McCorvey and soprano Gail Robinson. She is currently on the voice faculty at West Virginia University

Dr. William Koehler received a Bachelor of Music Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in speech/theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.  The Bachelor’s degree was an individually designed curriculum which focused on voice, acting, directing, and dance. He also holds a Master of Music Degree in vocal performance from the University of Kentucky where he studied with Everett McCorvey and a Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree in vocal performance from the University of Minnesota where he studied with John DeHaan.

Comfortable on the opera stage, in concert, in theatrical productions and as a director, Koehler’s activities have included the Mother for WVU’s Opera Theatre production of Seven Deadly Sins, and Abe Kaplan in Street Scene; soloist for Eternal Light Requiem by Howard Goodall, Bass soloist in Messiah both for WVU; Pooh-Bah in Lyric Opera of the North’s production of Mikado, stage direction of both Bizet’s Carmen for the WVU Schools of Music and Theatre & Dance and the WVU Opera Theatre’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury; Juror No. 7 in the play, Twelve Angry Men produced by M.T. Pockets Theatre of Morgantown, and Gaston in Picasso at the Lapin Agile produced by the Frostburg State University Theatre.

Other performances include Cadmus/Somnus in Handel’s Semele, Bottom in Britten’s Midsummer Nights Dream, Bartolo in The Marriage of Figaro, Commendatore in Don Giovanni, the Rev. Winemiller for WVU’s Opera Theatre production of Summer and Smoke, and soloist in WVU’s performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Koehler, a Visiting Assistant Professor, has taught several classes besides applied voice lessons for WVU’s School of Music. Among them are Diction for Singers, Vocal Pedagogy for music education majors, Voice Pedagogy for vocal performance majors and assistant Opera Workshop instructor.

He also teaches Voice Technique for Speakers through the Community Music Program at WVU. This is a course which is designed for adults who depend on their voice: singers, clinicians, actors, teachers, coaches, clergy, announcers, lawyers, salespeople, or people who simply suffer from vocal fatigue.

He has been a member of the music faculty at Frostburg State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, the University of Minnesota Morris, and the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

Besides his solo work, Koehler sings and has recorded with the American Spiritual Ensemble, a group that performs all over the world and whose mission is to keep the American Negro Spiritual alive and vibrant.

Matt Taylor is the incoming Director of Choral Activities and Music Education at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN (beginning Fall 2023). He is currently completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Georgia. His recent conducting engagements at UGA have included performances of Mozart’s Krönungsmesse and Vivaldi’s Gloria. Matt has worked as the graduate assistant for the UGA Hodgson Singers and Men’s Glee Club, and served as chorus master for the ’21-’22 UGA Opera Theatre season.

A passionate educator and conductor, Matt spent five years as an Associate Choral Director at Wando High School in Charleston, SC, where he contributed to the growth of one of the state’s largest choral programs. He has served as a conductor for district and university honor choirs in South Carolina. Matt has led church choir workshops and directed high school choirs across the southeast as a guest conductor. He made his international conducting debut in 2022 with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, where he was selected as one of five emerging guest conductors from across North America.

Matt has performed in collegiate, community, and professional choirs as a vocalist. In addition to choral music, Matt is an active instrumentalist and composer. As a choral arranger he has produced works for churches, high schools, and universities. He holds studies in classical and jazz performance on the double bass. Matt has been a career-long member of the American Choral Directors Association, and has served twice as a member of the ACDA Southern Region Conference Committee.

Matt holds degrees in music from Samford University (Composition) and Louisiana State University (Choral Conducting), and is currently finishing coursework for his DMA in Choral Conducting at the University of Georgia.

Will Perkins has been lauded by Opera News not only for his “sympathetic, forthright tenor,” but also for his ability to breathe life into the characters he portrays, “to emerge as the voice of reason.”  A diverse performer, Dr. Perkins has enjoyed singing lead roles in opera, operetta, and musical theater. He is equally at home singing Mozart as he is performing barbershop or contemporary musicals. His love for varied repertoire was also the subject of his dissertation: Incorporating Musical Theater in the Classical Voice Studio, which explores the benefits of the integration of this important American art form in singers’ personal study for their artistic development as well as career sustainability in today’s market.

As director of MTSU Opera Theater, Dr. Perkins has built a close working relationship with the Department of Theatre and Dance.  Their inaugural collaborative project, Sweeney Todd, played to sold-out audiences in the fall of 2021.  He has been sought after for his creative directing abilities by IU Opera Theater and Sylvia McNair’s Opera Workshop.  A frequent faculty member of the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, Dr. Perkins is also director of Brigham Young University’s Broadway Bootcamp and the Orpheus Vocal Competition.

Will also finds great value in recital performance, and is interested in innovating the traditional programming format to include more meaningful and insightful set groupings. As a soloist, he has appeared recently with the Stones River Chamber Players;  The Art Song Society; and at the Salt Lake Tabernacle singing Peter in Rob Gardner’s oratorio Lamb of God under the direction of Dr. Jane Fjeldsted.

During graduate studies at Indiana University, Will was selected to sing leads in two world premiere operas, including Vincent by Bernard Rands, the recording of which can be found on the Naxos American Classics label. Additional engagements have included Utah Festival Opera and Ohio Light Opera. Favorite roles include the title role in Candide; Camille in The Merry Widow; Jinx in Forever Plaid; Dr. Madden in Next to Normal; and Laurie in Mark Adamo’s Little Women.