Born in Plauen, ready at a young age, during the Second World War, Zoephel worked as an organist in various places in his native Vogtland.
Afterwards he worked for several years as a theatre conductor (among others at the Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar) and later as musical director of the State Cultural Orchestra Mühlhausen in Thuringia.
From 1965 to 1996 he simultaneously taught music theory, conducting and score playing at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber as a lecturer.
Among his students were Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, Udo Zimmermann, Wilfried Krätzschmar, Romely Pfund, Hans-Peter Kirchberg [de], Johannes Winkler, Christian Kluttig, Volker Hahn and Jörg Herchet.
In an honorary capacity he looked after the senior citizens' choir at Münster Zur Schönen Unserer Lieben Frau [de] in Ingolstad.