Kees Kooper (13 May 1923 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

– 2 April 2014 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

) was a Dutch

violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/compose ...

. He lived in Amsterdam through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. A 1951 prizewinner in the

Queen Elisabeth Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition ( nl, Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd, french: Concours musical international Reine Élisabeth) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in City of Brussels, Brussels. The competition is n ...

, Kooper debuted in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The ''New York Times'' wrote of his 1956 New York debut: "a violinist of considerable stature has arrived on the scene… He plays with an eloquence not often heard in our concert halls." He has been soloist in violin concerti of Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikowski, Prokofieff, Barber, Khachaturian, Berg, and others. Kooper’s chamber music career parallels his solo work. Kooper met his wife, pianist and painter

Mary Louise Boehm Mary Louise Boehm (July 25, 1924 – November 29, 2002) was an American pianist and painter. A descendant of Joseph Boehm, a piano-maker active in Vienna during the early 19th century, Mary Louise Boehm was born in Sumner, Iowa, and soon proved to ...

, while performing, and the pair traveled the world performing as the Kooper-Boehm Duo. Kooper also performed with the New York String Sextet, the Cremona Trio, and other ensembles. His name appears on many recordings. From 1976 to 1988 he was concertmaster of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra in Amsterdam. Kooper held university positions, lectured, and published articles on music. Kooper gave hundreds of concerts in America, Europe, Russia and the Far East. He performed at New York’s Carnegie, Steinway, Merkin and Town Halls, the Metropolitan Museum, the Frick Gallery and other venues. He also appeared twelve times on the Historical Piano Concerts Series. Kooper and Boehm settled in New York City, where Kooper went on to play for the Metropolitan Opera for 15 years. In 2002 his wife died. Kooper died on April 2, 2014.

References

External links

*http://www.frederickcollection.org/Kooper-White.html *https://open.spotify.com/album/2on9lyVMQmdW9WdEgM9yT9 *https://open.spotify.com/album/4Fr8fFOnkQe2U9HmyHjp4C *https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZTG1I/ *https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QZW25U/ 1923 births 2014 deaths Dutch classical violinists Male classical violinists 20th-century classical violinists Musicians from Amsterdam 20th-century Dutch male musicians Dutch expatriates in the United States {{Violinist-stub