Musicמרק קופיטמן

Mark Kopytman

Mark Kopytman was a composer, musicologist and music educator who taught at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and wrote the first Moldovan national opera.

1929 to 2011The opera Casa mareTeaching composition in JerusalemVoices of Memory

Born: 6 December 1929, Kamianets-Podilskyi
Died: 16 December 2011, Jerusalem
Occupation: composer, musicologist, music educator
Education: Moscow Conservatory

Mark Kopytman was born in 1929 in Kamianets-Podilskyi

Kopytman was born in 1929 in Kamianets-Podilskyi, then part of the Soviet Union. He began playing piano and studying theory at a young age, training at Chernivtsi Music College.

He first studied medicine at the Chernivtsi Medical Institute. He then studied composition in Lviv and at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow, and earned a doctorate in theory and composition.

He taught at conservatories in Moscow, Almaty and Chişinău, and wrote chamber, vocal, orchestral, theater and film music. His opera Casa mare premiered in Chişinău in 1967.

In 1972 he emigrated to Israel and became a professor of composition at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem, later heading its theory and composition department and serving as dean and deputy head. His work drew on Jewish folklore together with modern techniques. He was the first resident composer of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem and wrote several music textbooks.

He died in 2011 and was buried in Rehovot.

Mark Kopytman's life in 9 milestones

1929
Born in Kamianets-Podilskyi.
1967
His opera Casa mare premiered in Chişinău.
1972
Emigrated to Israel.
1973
Wrote Lament for solo flute, his first work in Israel.
1979
Became a permanent guest professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
1986
Won the Koussevitzky Prize for Voices of Memory.
1992
Named People's Artist of Moldova and received the ACUM lifetime achievement prize.
2002
Received the Prime Minister's Prize.
2011
Died.