Barry E. Kopetz is Director of Bands, Professor of Conducting and Chair of the Department of Instrumental Performance at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He conducts the Symphonic Winds, Wind Symphony as well as Chamber Wind ensembles. Other responsibilities include teaching courses in conducting and composition.

Prior to his appointment at Capital University in 2001, he was Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the University of Utah for ten years and Assistant Director at the University of Minnesota for five years. Other experience included three years in the public schools of South Carolina, and four years at Bowling Green State University (Ohio). Other public school teaching experience included three years as director of instrumental music at Strasburg-Franklin Public Schools, Strasburg,Ohio. His first teaching position was in junior high and elementary school in Columbus, Ohio, where he directed both band and orchestra.

Kopetz received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Ohio State University and he holds a doctorate with distinction from the School of Music at Indiana University. He studied conducting with the late Frederick Fennell in Tokyo for a month in 1989, and his previous conducting teachers include the late Professor Frederick Ebbs and Professor Ray Cramer of Indiana University, and Dr. Donald McGinnis of Ohio State University.

Kopetz is active as a composer and arranger, with more than seventy published works to his credit. He has written numerous commissioned works, and has composed music for both chamber and large ensembles. He is in demand as a guest conductor/ composer, working each year with All-State and Honor Ensembles. He is also a published author, having written interpretive articles regarding the standard repertoire for The Instrumentalist Magazine. He has been selected for an award from the Educational Press Association of America for these interpretive analyses. He recently was selected to become a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Band Research.

In 1997, Kopetz was selected as “Utah Music Educator of the Year” by the Utah Music Education Association for his work contributing to the growth and quality of the instrumental music programs in the state of Utah. He is a member of the National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, Phi Beta Mu, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Kappa Kappa Psi. He was selected for membership into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association in 1998.

Kopetz resides in Gahanna, Ohio, with his wife and two daughters. His hobbies include running, reading, Civil War history, Presidential history, and restoring classic Mustangs.