David Cooper’s Highlights

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Artist Profiles, David Cooper, French Horn, Horn

  • 1984: Born in Grand Ledge, Michigan, USA.
  • 1995: Earned his grandmother’s horn — she served in the Lansing Symphony Orchestra — after proving he could play his first scale and began his studies with Dr Dale Bartlett — his grandmother’s former colleague in the Lansing Symphony.
  • 1999: Began playing with Michigan State University ensembles.
  • 2002: Enrolled in the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
  • 2003: Was awarded a Tanglewood Fellowship.
  • 2004: He stepped away from the horn, serving as an Americorps intern with the Jefferson Land Trust in Port Townsend, Washington.
  • 2005: After a year without playing the horn, he met some local musicians and started playing again, taking lessons from Robert Bonnevie, former principal horn of the Seattle Symphony.
  • 2006: Was appointed acting principal horn of the Victoria Symphony in British Columbia, Canada.
  • 2008: Won co-associate principal horn of the Fort Worth Symphony in Texas, USA.
  • 2011: Moved to the Dallas Symphony as third horn. He spent his first of three consecutive summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.
  • 2012: Released his debut solo album, A French Horn and Piano Collaboration, with Cary Chow. Together with his wife, he founded the Avant Chamber Ballet in Dallas, where he served as music director.
  • 2013: Won principal horn of the National Symphony in Washington D.C., but, within weeks, he was appointed principal horn of the Dallas Symphony.
  • 2017: Performed Strauss’ Concerto No. 1 with the Dallas Symphony. He then moved into the principal horn position he won the previous year with the Berlin Philharmonic in Germany, where he played for a year.
  • 2018: Debut with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, playing Mozart’s Quintet and Beethoven’s Septet with a chamber group of the orchestra, and Strauss’ Concerto No. 1 the following day with the full orchestra and conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Returned back to the USA and resumed his position as principal horn of the Dallas Symphony. Performed Glière’s Concerto with the Lansing Symphony / Timothy Muffitt.
  • 2019: Won principal horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Performed Glière’s Concerto with the Nagoya Philharmonic / Kentaro Kawase at the NTK Hall Forest Hall in Nagoya, Japan. Released his second solo album, Impressions, with Cary Chow again, featuring French music for horn and piano. Named artist faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

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