Mark Kopytman (December 6, 1929 – December 16, 2011) (
Hebrew: מרק קופיטמן) was a composer, musicologist and pedagogue.[1] He was a professor and a rector of the Rubin Academy (
Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance), and a Laureate of the
Serge Koussevitzky Prize for his composition Voices of Memory (1986).[2] Awarded the title "People's Artist of Moldova" in (1992) by the Moldovan President for the creation of the first Moldovan National Opera «Casa mare» («The Great House»).
Biography
Kopytman was born in
Kamianets-Podilskyi in
Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) in 1929. He received his initial training in piano and
music theory at
Chernivtsi Music College and later went on to study medicine at the Chernivtsi Medical Institute. After graduating from medical college, Kopytman studied composition with
Roman Simovych at the
Lysenko Academy of Music in
Lviv and with
S. Bogatirev at
Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in
Moscow. After gaining his second PhD in theory and composition, Kopytman taught at the conservatories of
Moscow,
Almaty and
Chişinău. Several of his compositions won prizes and distinctions in competitions and festivals.[3][4]
Emigration
In 1972 Kopytman emigrated to Israel, where he became a Professor of Composition at the Rubin Academy. Kopytman eventually served as Chairman of the Theory and Composition Department, and later as Dean and the Deputy Head of the Academy (1974-1994).[5]
In 1979, Kopytman was invited to teach as a permanent guest professor at Hebrew University. He has since led seminars and master classes in composition, especially in heterophony,[6] the main focus of his creative work, at universities and music schools throughout Europe and the United States.
Compositions
Kopytman's individual style is inspired by
Jewish folklore and combined with economical use of recent innovations and characterized by a strong accent on melodic lines in the web of heterophonic splitting of textures.[7]
His orchestral and chamber compositions have been performed at many festivals across the world.
Awards
Kopytman is recipient of several prizes; among them the prestigious Koussevitzky International Record Critics award for his orchestral work Memory (1986), the Israel
ACUM Prize for lifetime achievement (1992), and the Israel Prime Minister Prize (2002).