Jane Coop

Jane Austin Coop (born 18 April 1950 in Saint John, New Brunswick) is a Canadian pianist and music pedagogue. An internationally recognized concert pianist, she has appeared as a recitalist and as a soloist with major symphony orchestras throughout the world. She has performed at such venues as the Bolshoi Hall in St. Petersburg, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Beijing Concert Hall, and the Salle Gaveau in Paris. From 1980-2012 she taught on the faculty of the University of British Columbia’s School of Music in Vancouver. In December 2012, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.[1]

Life and career

Raised in Calgary, Coop studied with Alexandra Munn and Gladys Egbert as a child. At the age of 18 she entered the University of Toronto where she studied piano with Anton Kuerti from 1968-1972 and earned an Artist Diploma in 1971 and a Bachelor of Music in 1972. In 1970 she won the CBC Talent Festival and in 1971 she won the W.O. Forsyth Memorial Scholarship which enabled her to pursue studies in London with Peter Feuchtwanger in 1972-1973.[2]

Coop entered the graduate music program at the Peabody Conservatory in the Fall of 1973 where she studied piano with Leon Fleisher. She graduated from Peabody with a Master of Music in Piano Performance in 1974. Two Canada Council grants enabled her to continue studies with Fleisher through 1976. While at Peabody, she won the Baldwin Prize in the Maryland International Piano Competition in 1972 and made her professional debut as a concert pianist at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto in 1973.[2]

In 1975 Coop won the Washington International Piano Competition, and was awarded the only prize for piano performance in New York's Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She was also a finalist at the Munich International Piano Competition in 1977.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Four UBC professors appointed to Order of Canada. UBC Media Release. January 2, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Betty Nygaard King (December 12, 2009). "Jane Coop". The Canadian Encyclopedia.

External links