Peter Cooper

Principal oboist of the Colorado Symphony since 1993 and Teaching Professor of oboe at the University of Colorado—Boulder, Peter Cooper (he/him) has taught and performed as soloist with orchestras in Asia, Europe, Mexico, and the United States. He previously held positions in the San Francisco Symphony and as principal oboist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras.

In recent years, he has given masterclasses at the conservatories of Paris and Lyon in France and Berlin, Leipzig, and Stuttgart in Germany. In the summers, he is on the faculty of the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colorado.

In 2022, he co-hosted the International Double Reed Society conference at the University of Colorado. 1000 oboists, bassoonists, and exhibitors from around the world attended the conference.

Cooper has commissioned and premiered five oboe concertos and recorded the Strauss and David Mullikin oboe concertos with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He previously recorded the Heinrich Schweizer Oboe Concerto with the London Philharmonic. Cooper has also premiered concertos by Bill Douglas and Gregory Walker with the Colorado Symphony. In 2019, he played a new concerto by Kevin Puts with the Colorado Symphony that was co-commissioned by the Colorado and Baltimore symphonies. His recording, “Whispers of the Past” for oboe and harp, is frequently heard on classical music radio stations across the United States.

A prize winner in the Tokyo International Oboe Competition, Cooper is a frequent guest principal oboist with many American orchestras. He has toured and recorded with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and has played first oboe with the Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, San Diego, and Milwaukee symphonies as well as the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

Cooper plays on Marigaux oboes and Marigaux, Paris has sponsored him in recitals and master classes throughout the United States, and in Mexico, Asia, and Europe. He has also been their American consultant for the development of the “A” model, a new model Marigaux oboe designed especially for American oboists.

A graduate of Northwestern University, he studied with Ray Still and Gladys Elliot.