Ian Cooper (violinist)
Encyclopedia
Ian Cooper is an Australian Violinist. He was commissioned to compose the "Tin Symphony"
for the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
in Sydney and is proficient in many musical styles including Classical
, Gypsy, Jazz
, Irish & Country
music. He has performed with Silverchair
, Tommy Emmanuel
, James Morrison
, Deni Hines
, Olivia Newton-John
, Barry White
, and Simon Tedeschi
.
teacher. He performed the Seitz violin concerto at age 6 on the Seven Network
's 11AM
program with Roger Climpson
and at age 7 Cooper performed concerts in Hawaii and the USA representing Australia and as part of the Suzuki Violin World Conference, and again in Japan in 1980 for NHK Television.
He was awarded a scholarship to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
at age eight where he studied with Christopher Kimber, Harry Kurby, and Laslo Kiss, as well as a music scholarship to Knox Grammar School
where he also studied drums and percussion. In 1990 Cooper was mentored by the French Jazz Violinist Stéphane Grappelli
. The guitarist Tommy Emmanuel
invited Cooper to perform with him at the Sydney Opera House
in 1992 and Ian joined him on tour for the next five years. Cooper has also been a member of trumpeter James Morrison
's sextet since 2007.
1714 Cremona instrument. His electric violins are Epoch, Guscott and E.F. Keebler.
The Games Of The XXVII Olympiad 2000: Music from the Opening Ceremony
The Games of the XXVII Olympiad - Official Music from the Opening Ceremony is the CD of the music of the 2000 Summer Olympics.-Track listing:...
for the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
2000 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics was described by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch as the most beautiful ceremony the world has ever seen. Held on the evening of Friday 15 September 2000, the Opening Ceremony represented everything Australian, from sea creatures and flora/fauna...
in Sydney and is proficient in many musical styles including Classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, Gypsy, Jazz
Jazz violin
Jazz violin is the use of the violin or electric violin to improvise and perform utilizing scales and chord progressions unique to the compositions of Jazz musicians . The earliest references to jazz performance using the violin as a solo instrument was during the first decades of the 20th century...
, Irish & Country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
music. He has performed with Silverchair
Silverchair
Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...
, Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
, James Morrison
James Morrison (musician)
James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
, Deni Hines
Deni Hines
Dohnyale "Deni" Sharon Hines is a solo R&B artist who had chart success in the 1990s in Australia and New Zealand. She is the daughter of Marcia Hines....
, Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, Barry White
Barry White
Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
, and Simon Tedeschi
Simon Tedeschi
Simon Tedeschi is a Boston-based classical pianist from Australia.-Life and career:Simon Tedeschi was born in Sydney to Mark Tedeschi QC, the New South Wales Crown Prosecutor and a prominent photographer and Vivienne Tedeschi, who is the daughter of a Polish Holocaust survivor, Lucy Gershwin,...
.
Background
Cooper began learning the violin at age 4 from his mother Jan Cooper, a Suzuki ViolinSuzuki method
The Suzuki method is a method of teaching music that emerged in the mid-20th century.-Background:The Suzuki Method was conceived in the mid-20th century by Shin'ichi Suzuki, a Japanese violinist who desired to bring beauty to the lives of children in his country after the devastation of World War II...
teacher. He performed the Seitz violin concerto at age 6 on the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
's 11AM
11AM (TV series)
11AM was a news magazine program that aired on the Seven Network from 11am AEST to midday from 1975 to 1999.The hour-long news program started in 1975 with Roger Climpson presenting, with a number of high-profile presenters since, including Clive Robertson, Vincent Smith, Paul Lyneham, Kerry...
program with Roger Climpson
Roger Climpson
Roger Climpson OAM MBE is a British-born Australian newsreader, best known for his time at Seven News in the 1980s and 1990s and for his hosting duties on various shows from 1977 until 1998.- Early life :...
and at age 7 Cooper performed concerts in Hawaii and the USA representing Australia and as part of the Suzuki Violin World Conference, and again in Japan in 1980 for NHK Television.
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
He was awarded a scholarship to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
at age eight where he studied with Christopher Kimber, Harry Kurby, and Laslo Kiss, as well as a music scholarship to Knox Grammar School
Knox Grammar School
Knox Grammar School is an independent, Uniting Church, day and boarding school for boys, located in Wahroonga, an upper North Shore suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
where he also studied drums and percussion. In 1990 Cooper was mentored by the French Jazz Violinist Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
. The guitarist Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
invited Cooper to perform with him at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
in 1992 and Ian joined him on tour for the next five years. Cooper has also been a member of trumpeter James Morrison
James Morrison (musician)
James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
's sextet since 2007.
Instruments
Cooper's main violin was made by E.H. Roth in Markneukirchen, Germany in 1926 and is modeled on an Antonio StradivariAntonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...
1714 Cremona instrument. His electric violins are Epoch, Guscott and E.F. Keebler.
Discography
- 1993 - Soundpost - with Ike IsaacsIke Isaacs (guitarist)Ike Isaacs was a jazz guitarist born in Rangoon, Burma, best known for his work with Stephane Grappelli.Isaacs was an autodidact, and started playing professionally while he was a chemistry student at university...
, Peter Inglis & Tim RollinsonTim Rollinson-External links:... - 1994 - Strings of Swing - with Don BurrowsDon BurrowsDonald Vernon Burrows, AO, MBE is an Australian jazz and swing musician, playing the clarinet, saxophone, and flute....
, Tom Baker & Ian Date - 1995 - Ian's World - with Tom Baker, Ian Date, Bernard Berkhout & John Morrison
- 1996 - At Home - with David PaquetteDavid PaquetteDavid Paquette born in Bridgeport, CT is an International Jazz Pianist. He has recorded more than 45 albums, highlights of his career include touring the European Jazz circuit, establishing and directing a seventeen year running annual Jazz Festival on New Zealand’s Waiheke Island, and years as...
- 1997 - Hard Axe to Follow - with Tommy EmmanuelTommy EmmanuelWilliam Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
, Tommy TychoTommy TychoThomas Tycho AM MBE is a multi-talented Hungarian-born Australian pianist, conductor, composer and arranger. He was associated with musical productions on Australian television for many years from its inception in 1956, including such programs as The Mavis Bramston Show...
, George GollaGeorge GollaGeorge Golla AM is an Australian jazz guitarist. In 1959 he commenced a long-term working musical partnership with clarinetist/flautist/saxophonist Don Burrows that continued for almost forty years. On 10 June 1985, Golla was made a Member of the Order of Australia with the citation, For service...
& Ian Date - 2002 - Big Band - with James MorrisonJames Morrison (musician)James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
- 2007 - Simon Tedeschi & Ian Cooper - with Simon TedeschiSimon TedeschiSimon Tedeschi is a Boston-based classical pianist from Australia.-Life and career:Simon Tedeschi was born in Sydney to Mark Tedeschi QC, the New South Wales Crown Prosecutor and a prominent photographer and Vivienne Tedeschi, who is the daughter of a Polish Holocaust survivor, Lucy Gershwin,...
- 2009 - Straight to the Pool Room - with The Smokin' Crawdads
- 2009 - Ballads and Bossa Nova with James MorrisonJames Morrison (musician)James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
, Emma PaskEmma PaskEmma Pask is an Australian jazz vocalist. She is best known for her work with big bands and her continuing collaboration with noted Australian virtuoso James Morrison.-Background:...
, Jim Pennell, Steve Brien, Paul Cutlan & Phil StackPhil StackPhil Stack is the bassist and one of the founding members of the Australian band, Thirsty Merc. Born in 1977, Stack grew up with his three older sisters in the New South Wales city of Dubbo. Stack is an accomplished jazz and rock musician within Australia. He is also a regular performer, playing... - 2009 - Quintet with Simon TedeschiSimon TedeschiSimon Tedeschi is a Boston-based classical pianist from Australia.-Life and career:Simon Tedeschi was born in Sydney to Mark Tedeschi QC, the New South Wales Crown Prosecutor and a prominent photographer and Vivienne Tedeschi, who is the daughter of a Polish Holocaust survivor, Lucy Gershwin,...
& James MorrisonJames Morrison (musician)James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...
Awards and recognition
- MO Award - Variety Instrumental Performer of the year - 1999
- MO Award - Variety Instrumental Performer of the year - 2000
- ACE Award - Instrumental Act of the year, 1999
- ACE Award - Instrumentalist of the year, 2000
- Golden Fiddle Award - Best CD by a fiddler as soloist - 2005
- Golden Fiddle Award - Best fiddler soloist - 2006
- Golden Fiddle Award - Best CD by a fiddler as soloist - 2006, for "Ian Cooper - Big Band"
- Queensland Country Music Awards - Queensland Group or Duo of the Year - 2010 - The Smokin' Crawdads