In Thursday’s (4/2) Philadelphia Inquirer, Bonnie Cook reports that trumpeter Joseph Koch Koplin died on March 27. “Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Koplin was a child prodigy on the trumpet. At age 10, he performed solos on Paul Whiteman’s Goodyear Revue, a TV variety show. At 11, he played for the Philadelphia Orchestra at children’s concerts…. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in music, and while there, he played first trumpet in the Rochester Philharmonic…. He served in the Army from 1962 to 1964 [and] played trumpet in the U.S. Army Band, including at the White House in the Kennedy administration. After the president was assassinated, Mr. Koplin played at Kennedy’s funeral and a day later over the president’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery.… Mr. Koplin performed with Leopold Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra in the mid-1960s and for the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia from 1966 to 1968. After he made 16 recordings, Mr. Koplin was voted a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. At age 30, though, he left the music world to become a CPA” and formed his own practice, Koplin & Bilardo L.L.P. He is survived by his wife, Bernice Berzof, and sons Jonathan and Joshua.
Posted April 2, 2015
