Hopkins studied at University College Cardiff. There his teachers included Alun Hoddinott and Arnold Whittall. He also took composition lessons with Peter Maxwell Davies.
He graduated in 2000 from University of Sussex with a Doctorate.Phil.
Hopkins was elected as a regional composer-in-residence by the Eastern Arts Association (now Arts Council England East) in 1979. After several teaching positions, he is now co-ordinator of Practice-Based Studies at the Faculty of Music (University of Cambridge), and Director of Studies for Music at Homerton College, Cambridge. Foreign the Far Journey (1981) The Magic Mountain (1983) White Winter, Black Spring (1985) Faustus (1986) Double Concerto for trumpet and saxophone (1994) Akhmatova Songs (2005) The Floating World, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (2008) Watching the Perseids (2008).
