Steven Copes

Violinist Steven Copes leads a diverse life as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader.

A native of Los Angeles, he became concertmaster of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1998, and since then has performed concertos by Berg, Brahms, Hindemith, Kirchner, Lutoslawski, Mozart, Prokofiev, and Weill. A zealous advocate of today’s music, he gave the world premiere of George Tsontakis’ Grammy-nominated Violin Concerto No. 2 (2003), which won the 2005 Grawemeyer Award and was recorded for KOCH Records. He has also premiered Pierre Jalbert’s Violin Concerto with the SPCO and conductor Thomas Zehetmair.

Mr. Copes is a founder and member of Accordo, a chamber group in Minneapolis/St. Paul, now at the end of its second decade. He has performed at festivals and concert series, including the Boston Chamber Music Society, Caramoor, Chamber Music Northwest, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, La Jolla, Marlboro, Norfolk, Mozaic, Olympic, and Seattle Chamber Music Society, among others.

A frequent guest leader with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mr. Copes has served in the same capacity with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School, and studied with Robert Lipsett, Aaron Rosand, Robert Mann, and Felix Galimir for chamber music.