James Arnold Hepokoski was born on 20 December 1946 in Duluth, Minnesota. He earned his master's degree and PhD in Music History from Harvard University, studying with David G. Hughes, John M. Ward, Oliver Strunk and Christoph Wolff, earning his doctorate in 1979 with a dissertation on Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff.
James Arnold Hepokoski was born on December 20, 1946, in Duluth, Minnesota. He earned his master's degree and PhD in Music History from Harvard University under the tutelage of David G. Hughes, John M. Ward, Oliver Strunk, and Christoph Wolff, completing his dissertation on Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff in 1979.