Dr. Matt Cooper
Matt Cooper, DMA ( Professor 1991) : piano, jazz studies, music theory, Jazz Ensemble
Matt Cooper earned his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master's degrees at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, and his Bachelor of Music summa cum laude from the University of Oregon. Active as a jazz as well as classical pianist, he is a frequent performer, adjudicator and clinician. He won third place prizes in the 1988 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition and the 1988 Great American Jazz Piano Competition. As a jazz pianist, he has toured with Woody Herman's Young Thundering Herd and performed with Eddie Harris, Nancy King, Jamey Aebersold, and many others.
Since moving from Cincinnati to Oregon in 1991, he has appeared on the Piano Duet Festival-by-the Sea, the Elsinore Theater Recital Series, International Festival of Creative Pianists, Newport Coffee Concerts, Wallowa Lake Chamber Music Festival, Walla Walla Symphony Chamber Series, Musica Camerata (Richland, Washington), University of Oregon Jazz Café series, in recitals at Washington State University, and on the state conventions for both the Oregon and Washington Music Teachers Associations, as well as in four full-length solo concerts in the Russian Far East. He has also appeared as soloist with the Oregon East Symphony, the Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra, and the Russian chamber orchestra Gloria. He performs throughout the Inland Northwest with the Columbia Trio, and his piano duet performances with pianist Beth Tomassetti have been heard on Northwest Public Radio, on two concert tours throughout Oregon, and on compact disc. His recent jazz credits include an album of jazz sextet originals titled Clovis, featuring bassist Glen Moore and released on Teal Creek Records, and performances with David Friesen, John Stowell, Warren Rand, Dave Glenn, Tom Bergeron, Alan Jones, and Rebecca Zapen.
Dr. Cooper has adjudicated many festivals and competitions including the MTNA Performance Competitions in Washington and Montana; Washington MTA Young Artists Masters Series; and many Oregon MTA festivals. He is a former faculty member of the Oregon Summer Music Institute, Central State University (Ohio), Northern Kentucky University, and the CCM Preparatory Department, and is a Past President of Oregon Music Teachers Association. His students have won awards, including the OMTA Composition Celebration and the Outstanding College Pianist at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.
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Last Updated: January 26, 2007
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