.jpg)
Jonathan N. Kupper is a composer whose musical endeavors have taken him from concert music to opera, musical theater to film-scoring. Born in Providence, RI, he was raised near Rochester, NY, and began to study music from an early age—most notably in the Preparatory Division of the Eastman School of Music. Mr. Kupper went on to pursue undergraduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, and graduate studies at New York University (graduate music theater writing program) and the University of Southern California (scoring for motion pictures).
Mr. Kupper’s music has been recorded and/or performed across North America and Europe. He is the recipient of several awards and honors, including: merit-based scholarships, grants, a 2002 fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center, a scholarship for study at the Aspen Music Festival & School, the 2003 Pete Carpenter Fellowship from BMI, and private funding & professional support from Mike Post Productions. He has completed residencies at the Musica d’Estate Festival in Italy, and the 2005 Oregon Bach Festival. In 2008, Mr. Kupper was selected to participate in the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra’s “New Directions” concert series, and in 2009, his one-act opera, The Monkey’s Paw, was selected as a semi-finalist in the Opera Vista Competition & Festival—the same piece that, in 2010, caught the attention of The Microscopic Opera Company, through whom it will enjoy its Pittsburgh premiere later this year.
In addition to composition, Mr. Kupper is a fine pianist, having toured throughout the United States and Italy, and having worked as a professional music director for the theater. You can find him playing for Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm alums at the Second City improv theater in Hollywood, or teaching Beethoven and Chopin at the Virtuoso Russian Music Academy in Orange County. Mr. Kupper is an avid creative writer, and a lover of all things Italian: language, food, and (of course) music.
