In her earliest days of playing the flute, Abby Coffey’s dad encouraged her to practice outside for the chickens and cats on the family farm.
“Being in seventh grade, I thought that he was just making a joke, but then as an adult, I realized, ‘Oh, it’s because I sounded bad and he didn’t want me to play in the house,’” she laughed.
Today, Coffey has gone from barnyard serenades to teaching, performing and co-directing and the board of the Arizona Philharmonic Orchestra.
Coffey was born and raised in Poplar Bluff. Like her peers, she joined the school band in seventh grade, and she chose the flute at the recommendation of a cousin. In high school, she performed in multiple honor bands including District and All-State. After graduating from Poplar Bluff High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Belmont University.
She moved from Belmont’s Nashville campus to the Phoenix area to pursue her master’s degree in flute performance at Arizona State University, graduating in 2018.
She remains in Phoenix to this day thanks to the career opportunities she found there, beginning with successful auditioning for substitute flutist with the Phoenix Symphony. Substitutes fill in for practices and concerts when full-time musicians are unavailable, Coffey explained, and it is unusual for young musicians to be chosen.
“Most people don’t have the opportunity to be on professional symphonies’ substitute musician rosters until their late 20s or early 30s. So that was a really exciting opportunity,” she said.
“Having access to those performance opportunities and ... networking with other really well-established professional musicians in the area allowed me to branch out more,” she went on, and she built experience by performing with smaller area orchestras.
This brought her to the new Arizona Philharmonic Orchestra, where she is now co-executive director of the board.
Coffey’s job description includes fundraising, grant writing, contracting musicians, budgeting, exploring venue options, scheduling with volunteers and organizing events.
“There’s really a lot of thought and detail that goes into making sure that it all runs smoothly, so that aspect of it is really, really fascinating to me,” she said. “It’s definitely stretching a different part of my brain working on the business and the administrative side than it is on the performance side, where it’s just a lot of individual practice and then showing up, playing the music, and then going home.”
The Arizona Philharmonic is a young orchestra, founded in 2018, and has many opportunities for growth. Coffey was excited to announce a season contract with the Ruth Street Theater in Prescott, which will give the orchestra a home base and connect them with local students.
“The Prescott Unified School District will be able to offer some coaching, some sectional work, as well as hopefully offer some side-by-side performance opportunities for the students in the orchestra at the high school ... to play alongside our professional musicians,” she explained.
She also looked forward to collaborating with the Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet, expanding programming and holding auditions for new positions.
“So lots of really fun things happening this year, and things that we can look forward to for upcoming seasons as well,” she said.
In addition to leadership duties, Coffey continues substituting in multiple orchestras and also plays with the Symphony of the Southwest. She is also a professor of flute and music education studies at Arizona Christian University.
“Teaching, performing and doing administrative work — it’s definitely a lot of stuff to keep track of, for sure,” she said.
Coffey credited her teachers for setting her on the path to musical success.
“Whenever I was in high school, I had the opportunity to study flute with Paul Thompson, who’s the flute professor at Southeast Missouri State University. I’m forever indebted to him and grateful for his time and his instruction, his guidance and patience, because I absolutely would be nowhere near (where) I am today without him,” she explained.
She added, “I’m grateful for the inspiration and the teachings of my flute professor for my undergraduate degree, Dr. Carolyn Totaro.”
For young musicians beginning where she did, in a small town school band, Coffey had advice. Pursuing music past high school in any capacity, whether as a hobby or a career, was always worth it.
“Anything with music that you do matters,” she said. “... Whatever brings you joy, and wherever you feel like you can make a difference and help make something in your community better with music, you should definitely pursue that.”
Students can gain valuable perspective by seeking mentors among more experienced musicians, she added.
“Everyone I’ve met is always happy to share information and really wants to lift other people up. It’s not nearly as exclusive as an art form as people think it is,” she said.
She also encouraged people to support young musicians and support the arts. Orchestras perform many genres of instrumental music, and Coffey has found experiencing these pieces firsthand allows audiences to see the passion and artistry of the performers.
“There’s the community aspect of being around other people who are super inspired by the same music that you love,” she said.
Coffey is the daughter of Jim (Teresa) Simpson and Laura (Kelly) Williams of Poplar Bluff, and the surrogate granddaughter of Carol and Blair Gray. She has three siblings living in Missouri and Tennessee.