Mike Kurilko, Director of Music, Trenton HS and TPS 5th Grade Bands
Mr. Mike Kurilko has taught in Trenton Public Schools since 1987. At Trenton High School, he is the director of the concert band, jazz band, marching band, chorus, instructs three guitar classes, and is part of the director team of the spring musical, He also is the 5th grade beginning band director at Hedke and Anderson Elementary Schools with music education degrees from West Virginia University and Wayne State University.
Mr. Kurilko is a founder and past president of the Downriver Music Guild which is a professional collaborative collective of high school and middle school instrumental music teachers in thirteen school districts in the Downriver Detroit region that sponsors the DMG All Star Bands event and the DMG Jazz Clinic. He also is an adjudicator for the Scholastic Marching Bands organization (SMB) throughout Michigan and is an active member of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).
As a a professional musician on trumpet and guitar, Mr. Kurilko performs with the Monroe Big Band and the Karl Steinman Pure Blues and Jazz PB+J sextet. He also frequently performs with the Southern Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra and Seaway Chorale Orchestra and functions as organist for Christ the King Episcopal Church in Taylor, MI. On trumpet, guitars, banjo, ukulele, and mandolin, Mr. Kurilko has performed in the pit orchestra ensembles for the Southgate Community Players, The Croswell Opera House in Adrian, Monroe Community Players, DYPAC in Trenton, Penny Seats Theatre Company in Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and for many high school productions in southeast Michigan. He has been director, music director, or pit musician for more than 50 musical theater productions throughout Michigan.
Mr. Kurilko is a 2-time Grammy Award nominee for National Music Educator of the Year. In 2018, he was named one of 25 national semifinalists for the Grammy Foundation Music Educator Award by the Recording Academy and Recording Foundation. In 2017, he was named a national quarter finalist for the same honor. Recently, he was named a 2019 VIP Music Educator by the Conn-Selmer Division of Education. The Trenton Civic Commission named him the City of Trenton's 2015 Outstanding Man of the Year.
Outside of of music, Mr Kurilko has worked as an events staff usher at Comerica Park for the Detroit Tigers since 2009. He and his wife, Mary, are proud of their four children - Michael, Brian, Katie, and Julie - all graduates of Trenton HS, each of whom have attended the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor or Michigan State University on the Western Golf Association Charles "Chick" Evans Caddie Scholarship. Ms. Katie Kurilko is an elementary music teacher in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
Email: kurilkom [at] trentonschools [dot] com
Mr. Kurilko is a founder and past president of the Downriver Music Guild which is a professional collaborative collective of high school and middle school instrumental music teachers in thirteen school districts in the Downriver Detroit region that sponsors the DMG All Star Bands event and the DMG Jazz Clinic. He also is an adjudicator for the Scholastic Marching Bands organization (SMB) throughout Michigan and is an active member of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association (MSBOA) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).
As a a professional musician on trumpet and guitar, Mr. Kurilko performs with the Monroe Big Band and the Karl Steinman Pure Blues and Jazz PB+J sextet. He also frequently performs with the Southern Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra and Seaway Chorale Orchestra and functions as organist for Christ the King Episcopal Church in Taylor, MI. On trumpet, guitars, banjo, ukulele, and mandolin, Mr. Kurilko has performed in the pit orchestra ensembles for the Southgate Community Players, The Croswell Opera House in Adrian, Monroe Community Players, DYPAC in Trenton, Penny Seats Theatre Company in Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and for many high school productions in southeast Michigan. He has been director, music director, or pit musician for more than 50 musical theater productions throughout Michigan.
Mr. Kurilko is a 2-time Grammy Award nominee for National Music Educator of the Year. In 2018, he was named one of 25 national semifinalists for the Grammy Foundation Music Educator Award by the Recording Academy and Recording Foundation. In 2017, he was named a national quarter finalist for the same honor. Recently, he was named a 2019 VIP Music Educator by the Conn-Selmer Division of Education. The Trenton Civic Commission named him the City of Trenton's 2015 Outstanding Man of the Year.
Outside of of music, Mr Kurilko has worked as an events staff usher at Comerica Park for the Detroit Tigers since 2009. He and his wife, Mary, are proud of their four children - Michael, Brian, Katie, and Julie - all graduates of Trenton HS, each of whom have attended the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor or Michigan State University on the Western Golf Association Charles "Chick" Evans Caddie Scholarship. Ms. Katie Kurilko is an elementary music teacher in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
Email: kurilkom [at] trentonschools [dot] com
Peter Kopera - Band Director at Boyd Arthurs Middle School
Peter Kopera is the Music Director for the 6th, 7th and 8th Grade Concert Bands, Arthurs Jazz Band, Music Composition, Jazz Improvisation and World Music Drumming. Mr. Kopera began teaching at Arthurs MS in the Fall of 1998.
Originally from Western New York, Mr. Kopera graduated from the Crane School of Music. Mr. Kopera also attended the Birmingham Conservatoire in Birmingham, England and earned his Master's Degree in Music Education at the University of Michigan. Mr. Kopera composed and recorded the musical soundtrack to the independent film "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" and performs regularly throughout southeastern Michigan with various jazz groups.
Mr. Kopera was named the Michigan State Band and Orchestra Association District 12 Band Director of the Year for 2018-2019.
Email: koperap@trentonschools.com
Originally from Western New York, Mr. Kopera graduated from the Crane School of Music. Mr. Kopera also attended the Birmingham Conservatoire in Birmingham, England and earned his Master's Degree in Music Education at the University of Michigan. Mr. Kopera composed and recorded the musical soundtrack to the independent film "An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge" and performs regularly throughout southeastern Michigan with various jazz groups.
Mr. Kopera was named the Michigan State Band and Orchestra Association District 12 Band Director of the Year for 2018-2019.
Email: koperap@trentonschools.com