Professor Emeritus George Kiorpes passed away on April 27th.
Dr. Kiorpes was Professor of Piano for forty-five years at UNCG from 1965 to 2010. Prior to UNCG, Dr. Kiorpes taught at Greensboro College from 1955 to 1965. Highlights from his UNCG career included serving as head of the keyboard area for twenty years and receiving the Outstanding Teacher Award from the School of Music in 2002. Dr. Kiorpes published articles in national periodicals and for four years was editor of the North Carolina Music Teacher. His compositions for piano were published by Ditson, Willis, and Kjos music publishers. As a pianist, he participated in solo, ensemble, and concerto performances throughout the United States and East Asia. Concerto collaborations included performances with conductors Reginald Stewart, Arthur Fiedler, David Moskowitz, and Herbert Hazelman.
A native of Yonkers, New York, Dr. Kiorpes earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as a performer’s certificate in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and a doctorate of musical arts from Boston University. He studied composition with Henry Cowell, and piano with Frederick Petrich, Austin Conradi, and Béla Böszörményi–Nagy. Dr. Kiorpes received numerous awards and prizes, including Peabody’s Mary Garrettsom Evans and Bach-Horstmeir Scholarships and the coveted Paul Thomas Prize for Outstanding Pianistic Achievement. For fifty-seven years, Dr. Kiorpis was the Music Director at Greensboro’s First Moravian Church, where his duties included serving as organist, pianist, choir director, and handbell director.
Dr. Kiorpes’s Memorial Service will be held in July, and there may be an event to remember Dr. Kiorpes at the School of Music in the future.