Lea Hoppe

LEA HOPPE

Photo of Lea Hoppe

Lea Hoppe is director of the Huntsville Community Chorus Children’s Chorale. She is the elementary music specialist at Randolph School, where she also directs the Randolph Young Voices Choir and the beginning and advanced hand chimes ensembles. Lea directs children’s choir and children’s handbells and sings in the Sanctuary Choir at First Baptist Church Huntsville. She also sings with the Huntsville Community Chorus and Chamber Chorale, and plays trombone with both the First Baptist Church Orchestra and the Twickenham Winds.

Lea studied voice with the late Eva Clapp White at Samford University. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Samford University and an M.A. from the University of Alabama. She received both Kodaly mastery certification and Orff certification from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lea has studied the child’s singing voice with Dr. Susan Knight, founder and artistic director of the Newfoundland Symphony Children’s Chorus. She has also completed a three-year certification, Creating Artistry through Choral Excellence, with Henry Leck, founder and artistic director of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir. She is in the inaugural group of graduates of the Choristers Guild Institute.

Lea’s professional affiliations include the American Choral Directors’ Association, the National Association for Music Education, Alabama Music Educators’ Association, Organization of Kodaly Educators, American Orff Schulwerk Association, Choristers Guild, and Delta Omicron professional music fraternity. She is a member of Kappa Delta Pi and Kappa Delta Epsilon, both education honor societies. Lea has received both the Esther Edwards Award for outstanding elementary teacher of the year and the Anthony J. Lynch faculty service award at Randolph School, and was named a Randolph Mission Keeper. In 2010, Lea was the recipient of the Harold J. Wilson Music Educator of the Year Award, given by the Huntsville Youth Orchestra in recognition of her contributions to the development of young musicians.

Lea has performed in stage productions of The Gospel According to Scrooge (Mrs. Cratchit), My Fair Lady (chorus), Hello Dolly (Mrs. Rose/chorus), and Beauty and the Beast (Mrs. Potts). Her opera credits include Gounod’s Faust (chorus), Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors (solo shepherdess), The Little Prince (children’s chorus director), Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (chorus master/Geisha Girl) and Suor Angelica (prima Sorella Cercatrice). Lea directed Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, Hansel and Gretel, and also performed the role of the mother, Gertrude. She was the music director for Theatre Randolph’s productions of Oklahoma and It Happened in Hamelin. Lea has played trombone in productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma, Urinetown and Oliver.

Lea and her husband, David, a NASA engineer, are the parents of two daughters, Kathryn and Emily.