Mark Kopytman (December 6, 1929 – December 16, 2011) (Hebrew: מרק קופיטמן) was a composer, musicologist and pedagogue. 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). 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.
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).
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, 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.
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).
Selected works
Stage
Casa Mare, opera in 2 acts (1966); libretto by Victor Teleucă after a drama by Ion Druță Monodrama, ballet music for clarinet, bassoon, 3 celli, percussion, harpsichord and piano (1975) Prism, ballet music for trombone and percussion (1976) Two Poems, ballet music for flute, violin, cello and piano (1978) And a Time for Every Purpose, ballet music for flute, trumpet, trombone and percussion (1979) Wings, music for drama (1979) Chamber Scenes from the Life of Süsskind von Trimberg, chamber opera (1982); libretto by Recha Freier
Orchestral
Symphony (1956) Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra (1964) Six Moldavian Tunes (1965) Concerto for Orchestra (1976) Casa Mare, Suite I from the Opera (1980) Memory (1981) Music for Strings (1988) Cantus II for string orchestra (1990) Beyond All This for chamber orchestra (1997) Vanished Strains (2004)
Concertante
Concertino for violin and chamber orchestra (1964) Concerto for piano and orchestra (1970) Kaddish for cello or viola and string orchestra (1981) Cantus III for bass clarinet and chamber orchestra (1984) Cantus V, Concerto for viola and orchestra (1990) Cantus VI for oboe and chamber orchestra (1995) or for clarinet and orchestra (2002) Cantus IV for violin and string orchestra (dedication, 2000) or for violin and chamber orchestra (dedication, 2003) Cantus VII for violin, cello and orchestra (2000)