Jacob Cooper (composer) explained
Jacob Mauney Cooper is an American composer living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1]
Biography
After attending Amherst College for his bachelor's degree in both geology and music,[2] Cooper completed his graduate studies in composition at the Yale School of Music,[3] and later formed the composers’ collective Sleeping Giant with several of his classmates.[4] His works have been performed by the Calder Quartet, JACK Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble ACJW, NOW Ensemble, Dither Quartet, Living Earth Show, Carmina Slovenica, Mellissa Hughes, Timo Andres, Theo Bleckmann, Jodie Landau, Ashley Bathgate, and Vicky Chow.[5]
Cooper's national awards include a Music Alive Residency Award from New Music USA,[6] a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters,[7] and a Morton Gould Young Composer Award from ASCAP.[8] He was also the winner of the 2011 Carsblad Music Festival Composers’ Competition[9] and has been hailed by the New York Times as "richly talented"[10] and by The New Yorker as a "maverick song composer."[11]
Cooper is an associate professor at West Chester University[12] and previously served on the faculty at Amherst College.[13]
Works
Cooper's largest projects include Silver Threads, a song cycle for voice and electronic track released by Nonesuch Records,[14] and Ripple the Sky, a work for voice and processed string octet commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.[15] These works highlight Cooper's focus on slow development and the stretching of musical time.[16] Many of Cooper's compositions involve live processing and electronics, and his interest in the digital realm extends to visual media: his video series Triptych was screened at the 2012 MATA Festival,[17] and his piece Commencer une autre mort was shortlisted for the Guggenheim exhibit YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video (2010).[18]
Compositions and projects
Opera and vocal/theater
- Threnos (for the Throat) (2017–20) for processed women's choir with electronic track
- Timberbrit (2008, revised 2010) for male vocalist, female vocalist, guitar, keyboard, drumset, and laptop
Orchestral / large ensemble
- Sanctus (2015) for orchestra and SATB choir
- Serenade (2013) for 2 vocalists and 16 instrumentalists
- Stabat Mater Dolorosa (2009) for string orchestra and 4 amplified voices
- Odradek (2006) for full orchestra
Chamber
- Terrain (2020) for 2 vocalists and cello
- Air I and Air II (2016) for percussion quartet
- Ripple the Sky (2016) for voice and string octet
- Pasturing I and Pasturing II (2014) for guitar and percussion / drum set
- Cast (2014) for chamber ensemble
- Agitated, stumbling, like an endless run-on sentence (2011) for cl, bsn, tpt, tbn, perc, vln, db
- bad black bottom kind (2011, rev. 2013) for string quartet
- Cello Octet (2010)
Solo (and solo with electronic track / laptop)
- Three pieces for Trombone and Trombone Track (2019)
- Expiation (2018) for voice with electronic track
- Ley Line (2016) for solo cello
- Silver Threads (2011–13) song cycle for voice with electronic track
- La Plus Que Plus Que Lente (2013) for piano with laptop
- Arches (2012) for cello with laptop
- Clifton Gates (2011) for piano with laptop
- Alter Ad Alterum (2011) for accordion with laptop
- Not Just Another Piece for Solo Bass Drum (2005)
Video
- Triptych:
- Commencer une autre mort (2010)
- Black or White (2012)
- Alla stagion dei fior (2012)
Recordings
Full albums
- Terrain (New Amsterdam Records, 2020)[19]
- Silver Threads (Nonesuch Records, 2014) with Mellissa Hughes, soprano[20]
Featured on
- The String Orchestra of Brooklyn's afterimage (Furious Artisans, 2020), Stabat Mater Dolorosa[21]
- Ashley Bathgate's Ash (New Amsterdam Records, 2019), Ley Line[22]
- Eighth Blackbird's Hand Eye (Cedille Records, 2016), Cast[23]
- The Living Earth Show's Dance Music (New Amsterdam Records, 2016), Pasturing II[24]
- Vicky Chow's A O R T A (New Amsterdam Records, 2016), Clifton Gates[25]
- Kathleen Supové's The Debussy Effect (New Focus Recordings, 2016), La plus que plus que lente[26]
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: About. 2017-06-21. en. 2020-04-03.
- Web site: American Music Series: Jacob Cooper . June 16, 2008 . Yale University Library . Yale University . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: Timberbrit, opera by Jacob Cooper '10MMA, at Incubator Arts Project . November 8, 2010 . Yale School of Music . Yale University . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: Sleeping Giant Composers Collection receives Music Alive residency . June 14, 2013 . Yale School of Music . Yale University . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: Music by Jacob Cooper featured in Nov. 7 recital . October 22, 2013 . Yale School of Music . Yale University . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: 2013 Music Alive Residency Awardees . June 14, 2013 . New Music USA . March 18, 2014 . March 19, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140319000005/https://www.newmusicusa.org/2013-music-alive-residency-awardees/ . dead .
- Web site: The Charles Ives Awards . Arts and Letters . March 18, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160131113705/http://www.artsandletters.org/awards2_popup.php?abbrev=Ives . January 31, 2016 .
- Web site: The ASCAP Foundation Names Recipients of the 2007 Morton Gould Young Composer Awards . April 12, 2007 . ASCAP . March 18, 2014 . October 29, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194549/http://www.ascap.com/press/2007/041207_morton_gould.html . dead .
- Web site: Carlsbad Music Festival 2011, Sept. 23-25 / Festival Moves to Village of Carlsbad / Composers Competition Winner Announced . April 12, 2007 . Carlsbad Music Festival . March 18, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140318223258/http://carlsbadmusicfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/cmf11prjuly.pdf . March 18, 2014 .
- Web site: Corey Dargel and Jacob Cooper . New York Times . March 18, 2014.
- Unraveling: New Songs by Corey Dargel and Jacob Cooper. January 7, 2013 . The New Yorker . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: Music Theory, History, and Composition : Faculty - West Chester University. www.wcupa.edu. 2016-03-02.
- Web site: Pop-Star Tragedy . Spring 2011 . Amherst Magazine . Amherst College . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: Nonesuch Releases Jacob Cooper's Label Debut, "Silver Threads," Featuring Soprano Mellissa Hughes, April 29 . March 11, 2014 . Nonesuch . Nonesuch Records . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC'S 2015/16 GREEN UMBRELLA SERIES OFFERS A WEALTH OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FEATURING EIGHT LA PHIL COMMISSIONS, SEVEN WORLD PREMIERES, THREE U.S. PREMIERES, AND FIVE WEST .... LA Phil. en. 2020-04-19.
- Web site: Jacob Cooper Finds Grace in Diaphanous Slow Motion . April 28, 2012 . Q2 Music . WQXR . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: April 20: Signs and Signals . April 20, 2012 . MATA Festival . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: YouTube Play: Introducing the Shortlist . September 20, 2010 . Guggenheim . Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation . March 18, 2014.
- Web site: New Amsterdam Records - Albums. 2020-09-30. New Amsterdam Records. en-US.
- Web site: Jacob Cooper's Nonesuch Records Debut, "Silver Threads," Featuring Soprano Mellissa Hughes, Out Now - Nonesuch Records. Nonesuch Records Official Website. 29 April 2014 . en. 2020-04-03.
- Web site: String Orchestra of Brooklyn: afterimage. Staff Writer. 2020-03-09. Furious Artisans. en. 2020-04-10.
- Web site: New Amsterdam Records - Albums. New Amsterdam Records. January 2020 . en-US. 2020-04-10.
- Web site: Hand Eye Classical Music. Cedille Records. en. 2020-04-10.
- Web site: New Amsterdam Records - Albums. New Amsterdam Records. 5 July 2019 . en-US. 2020-04-10.
- Web site: New Amsterdam Records - Albums. New Amsterdam Records. 15 June 2018 . en-US. 2020-04-10.
- Web site: Kathleen Supové: The Debussy Effect Catalogue. New Focus Recordings. en-US. 2020-04-10.