Dopman, William

William Dopman ( born William Doppmann ; October 10, 1934 , Springfield , Massachusetts - January 27, 2013 , Honokaa , Hawaii ) is an American pianist and composer .

A gifted child, Dopman began performing at the age of five, and at the age of seven he conducted his own composition performed by the Louisville Orchestra . He studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory, and then at the University of Michigan with Ross Lee Finney , whom he considered his main teacher throughout his life. In 1954 , Dopman became one of the winners of the Naumburg Competition for Young Performers . He later taught at the Peabody Conservatory , at the universities of Iowa and Texas.

As a pianist, Dopman is known mainly for playing 20th-century American music, from Samuel Barber to the present. According to the American observer, “Dopman is also a composer, and he plays as a composer: recreating any chosen music with all its freshness and originality” ^[1] . The composer's legacy of Dopman includes both piano music, of which Toccata In Nomine ( 1997 ) is best known, as well as vocal, chamber, orchestral works; widely performed vocal cycle "Spring Songs" ( English Spring Songs , 1981 ) to verses by various authors, from Chaucer to John Lennon .