Paul Cooper: podcast appearances and interviews

Paul Cooper (May 19, 1926 – April 4, 1996) was an American composer and teacher of classical music. Born in Victoria, Illinois, he received degrees from the University of Southern California, studying under Ernest Kanitz, Halsey Stevens, and Roger Sessions. As a Fulbright Fellow from 1953 to 1954, he also studied with Nadia Boulanger. Cooper taught at the University of Michigan School of Music and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music before becoming a founding member of Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in 1974. He remained there until his death, holding the Lynette S. Autrey Endowed Chair and serving as Composer-in-Residence. Throughout his career, Cooper received numerous accolades including a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and several foundations such as Ford, Rockefeller, and Rackham. His students included notable composers like Gabriela Lena Frank, Svend Nielsen, and Ellsworth Milburn. Cooper experimented with various compositional techniques, including serialism and aleatory, while much of his music adhered to traditional structures, with works in established forms such as six string quartets, multiple concertos for instruments like violin, saxophone, and flute, and six symphonies. His music was characterized by deep emotional motivation, combined with clarity and mastery of craft, attributes noted by Ross Lee Finney.