Barry Kopetz

Barry Kopetz

Biography

Barry Edward Kopetz (b. 19 November 1951, Morristown, N.J.) is an American composer and educator.

Dr. Kopetz received his early education in nearby Morris Plains. He developed a strong love of music, particularly church music, and began the study of trumpet at the age of nine. His family moved to Columbus, Ohio, in 1962, and there he switched to euphonium and began the serious study of music, both vocal and instrumental. He attended Walnut Ridge High School, where he studied music theory and wrote his first arrangements for band and orchestra.

Kopetz began his higher education at Ohio State University as a voice major but switched to instrumental music, studying euphonium with Paul Droste and conducting with Donald E. McGinnis. He received a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1973. While teaching full time in Columbus public schools, he received a Master of Arts degree in 1975, also at Ohio State. He taught instrumental music in the Strasburg-Franklin (Ohio) public schools from 1974-1977 and then attended Indiana University, receiving a Doctor of Music Education degree (with distinction) in 1981.

From 1979-1983, Kopetz was assistant director of bands under Mark S. Kelly at Bowling Green State University, and then moved to Greenville, South Carolina, working as a fine arts consultant and supervising the county music program. From 1984-1986, he was a high school band director and coordinator of instrumental music in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

In 1986, he was appointed to the music faculty at the University of Minnesota. He was the Assistant Director of Bands, conducting the Symphonic Band, the Marching Band, and the Chamber Winds, and also taught band arranging and graduate wind conducting.

In 1991, Kopetz left the University of Minnesota to accept the position of director of bands at the University of Utah. In 2014 Dr. Kopetz became Head of the Music Department at Mississippi State University.

In addition to his original band works and arrangements, Kopetz has written numerous musicological treatises on major band works and has contributed other articles to music journals. Currently, he is working on a biography of Karl L. King. His memberships include the Music Educators National Conference, the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, Phi Beta Mu and Kappa Kappa Psi.

Works for Winds

• Afton River Fantasy
• American Sketches (2003)
• Americana Folk Suite
• Around the World at Christmas Time
• As the Clock Ticks (2010)
• Ash Grove Fantasy (2011)
• Asian Sunrise (2003)
• Battle Suite (2013)
• Before Their Time (2017)
• Belmont County Saga (2018)
• Camperdown Way
• Canyonlands (2006)
• Caves in the Mountains (2006)
• Ceremony and Lyric Song
• The Chase Through Albemarle! (2008)
• Christmas Across the World (as arranger) (2005)
• Climb Every Mountain
• Corridors of Castle Doria (2010)
• Cottonwood Canyon Rhapsody (1997)
• Courageous Spirit (2007)
• Dance at the Lake of Miramoor (2004)
• Dedication and Festival (2010)
• Do Re Mi
• Dorian Landscape (1998)
• Down Paths of Darkness (1996)
• Downing Street March
• Drummer Boy of Shiloh (as arranger)
• Duke of Bedford
• Edgar Allan Poe (2017)
• Elegy for a Rose
• Escape of the Shadow Men (2007)
• Exuberance (2005)
• Fanfare, Joyance and Chorale
• Fanfare and Aria (2004)
• Fantasia on a Theme from "The Southern Harmony" (as arranger) (2015)
• Fantasy on Psalm 100 (1999)
• Fantasy on a Theme by Samuel Barber (as arranger)
• Fantasy on an Australian Song (2004)
• Flat Out and Wide Open (2011)
• Flourishes and Variants
• For the Glory of the Flag
• Frogs and Toads! (2009)
• From the Cedars to the Mountains (2002)
• Games (2003)
• Gates of the Minotaur (2006)
• The Ghost of the Desert (2019)
• Greek Folk Song Suite (as arranger) (2013)
• Greenland March
• Heroes and Legends (2007)
• Hillandale March
• Hoe-Down Hallelujah!
• Hymn for the King of the House of Silverbow (2005)
• In Brotherhood Abiding (2001)
• In Darkest Night (2003)
• In Old Melbourne Town (1999)
• In the Emerald City (2009)
• In the Forest Deep (2010)
• In the Land of the Lochrians (2002)
• Incantation and Shadow Dance (2011)
• Into Thin Air (2011)
• The Journey to Aeolia (2003)
• Jubilant Tribute
• Karolee Way
• Keys of Canterbury
• Knightsbridge Chronicles (1992)
• The Latin Half-Step (2000)
• Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee (as arranger)
• Letters from the Battlefield (2016)
• Like Whirlwinds (2012)
• Lincoln at Gettysburg (2009)
• Lizards! (2008)
• March Regal
• March and Ecossaise (2001)
• March of the Ladybugs (2005)
• McMorran Suite (1992)
• Memories of Kirby (2004)
• More Games! (2004)
• Muskingum Portrait (2011)
• Napoleon at Waterloo (2007)
• Northridge Overture
• Of Noble Courage (2014)
• Of Pomp and Ceremony (2007)
• Old Irish Song (as arranger)
• Olympus (2007)
• On the Banks of Prairie River (2012)
• The Peaks of Solitude
• The Pillars of Phrygia (1995)
• Raven
• Rising of the Assidium Moon (2005)
• The Road to Castlemaine (as arranger) (2019)
• Rondo Sonore
• Ryebuck Shearer (as arranger) (2001)
• Salutes and Salutations (2020)
• Scenes from Grand Lake
• Scottish Folk Rhapsody
• Screamer March, The (Jewell) (as arranger) (2006)
• Secret of the Soothsayer (2009)
• Sherlock Holmes (2018)
• Shore Song Shanty (1991)
• The Siege of Rhodes (2010)
• Sighting of the Whales (2008)
• Silent Night (as arranger) (2008)
• Silver Star Ranch (2002)
• Sing High Down (as arranger) (2015)
• Sleigh Bells and Reindeer (1992)
• Snapshots! (2008)
• Snowbird! (1999)
• Somewhere (as arranger)
• Song of the Desert
• A Southern Reflection (2020)
• Spartanburg Overture (1988)
• Spiritual (Kopetz)
• Symphony of the Hills (1999)
• The Tarantula (2008)
• Tecumseh (2004)
• Ten Thousand Miles (as arranger) (2016)
• Tune in a Popular London Style (as arranger) (2006)
• Under the Big Top (1991)
• The Valley of Darkness (2014)
• Variations on Lobe Den Herren (as arranger)
• The Voice Beneath the Waters (2009)
• Volcanic Fire (2008)
• A Walk in Central Park (2012)
• Wellington Overture
• When Full Moon's Light (2005)
• Whipsaw March (2004)
• With Praise and Celebration (2004/2005)

Resources

• Barry Kopetz, Wikipedia Accessed 3 November 2019
• "Dr. Barry E. Kopetz." Mississippi State University Department of Music. Web. Accessed 13 December 2019
• Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Barry Kopetz." Accessed 7 December 2014