The Scarsdale Public Library, in partnership with Hoff-Barthelson School of Music, present an evening lecture on the music of Charles Ives with Dr. Derek Cooper on Friday December 20 at 4:30 pm at Scarsdale Library.
Charles Ives's 4th and final symphony is a masterpiece that touches on many facets of what made the American composer so unique for his time. This lecture will explore the questions that Ives was attempting to answer during his musical career while using each movement as a window into Ives's life and compositional inspirations.
Dr. Derek Cooper’s music has been performed worldwide by groups including Contemporaneous, Decoda, Sonic Apricity, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania wind ensemble, Jenny Lin, Lisa Pegher, Yarn/Wire, Ekmeles, the Iridium Saxophone Quartet, and Blueshift Ensemble. His piece, Kill James, received an honorable mention in the New York Composers Circle’s 2019 John Eaton Memorial Composition Competition and his works have been lauded in several publications for their ingenuity and passion. In 2016, Derek joined the ICEBERG collective, a select and diverse group of emerging New York composers. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Theory and Composition from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He then went on to receive his Master’s of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from Manhattan School of Music while studying with Dr. Reiko Füting and Dr. Richard Danielpour.
Dr. Cooper acts as Chair of Composition and Musicianship for the Hoff-Barthelson Music School where he also teaches composition, musicianship, and music technology along with directing the school’s Compose Yourself! Festival in collaboration with Copland House. In addition, he is an instructor at Manhattan School of Music and teaches music theory at Ramapo College of New Jersey’s School of Contemporary Arts and City College of New York while also overseeing the composition department for Manhattan School of Music’s Summer Division.
His music is published through his own website as well as Knightwind Music, JustATheory Press, and NewMusicShelf. For more information and to hear samples of Derek’s work, visit: www.DerekCooperComposer.com.
