Ronald Copes

Praised by audiences and critics alike for his insightful artistry, violinist Ronald Copes has received international acclaim as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Having appeared as a featured performer in the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Bermuda, Cheltenham, Colorado and Olympic music festivals, Mr. Copes has toured extensively with Music From Marlboro ensembles, the Los Angeles and Dunsmuir Piano Quartets, and, since 1997, with the Juilliard String Quartet in concerts throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. During the 2011-13 seasons, he and Seymour Lipkin performed cycles of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and the Juilliard School.

He has recorded numerous solo and chamber music works for radio and television broadcast as well as for labels including Sony Classical, Orion, CRI, Klavier, Bridge, New World Records, ECM and the Musical Heritage Society. Devoting considerable energy to the development and presentation of contemporary string literature, he has worked closely with composers including Stephen Hartke and Donald Crockett, and has given the first performances of solo and chamber works by Stephen Dembski and Robert Kraft, among others. With the New York New Music Ensemble, he recorded Ralph Shapey’s Three for Six, and was presented in solo recital by the International Society of Contemporary Music in New York.

Mr. Copes has garnered prizes in several national and international competitions including the Artists’ Advisory Council International Competition, the Merriweather Post Competition and the Concours International d’Exécution Musicale in Geneva. For two decades, he served as Professor of Violin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and, in 1997, joined the faculty of The Juilliard School, where he serves as chair of the violin department. With the JSQ and individually, Mr. Copes has coached string quartets and given master classes at Juilliard, Tanglewood and on tour. During the summer he is on the artist-faculty of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival.