Morgantown WV - Grant Cooper, artistic director and conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, has been selected by a National Symphony Orchestra jury, overseen by Principal Conductor Ivan Fischer, for the National Symphony Orchestra's 2010 American Residency Commission.  Cooper was among 13 state composers who applied for the opportunity through the National Symphony Orchestra's American Residency program that West Virginia was selected to host this year.  He will compose a chamber music work of 10 to 15 minutes, to be premiered by members of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

"I am honored to be offered this opportunity to compose a musical work that will embrace the traditions of excellence in music found throughout Appalachia and I hope to further the impression that music from our region is of the highest quality," said Grant Cooper.  "Since coming to live in West Virginia, I have embraced Appalachian music and customs in many of my compositions and arrangements.  I am excited about the opportunity to continue that commitment through this commission."

 "We received submissions from around the state for this competition," said Lou Karas, executive director of the Appalachian Education Initiative and coordinator for the program.  "The commission is another of the unique activities which West Virginia enjoys through the American Residency program."  The Appalachian Education Initiative partnered with the West Virginia Division of Culture and History on the finalists' selection.

Randall Reid-Smith, Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, said the benefits of the residency continue to be seen in West Virginia.  "Grant Cooper is one of several West Virginians who have the opportunity to work with the National Symphony Orchestra this summer.  We had two students who attended the Summer Music Institute and a teacher participate in a teacher's fellowship."

West Virginia composers were invited to submit applications for the commission opportunity earlier this year.  The state selection committee then submitted a slate of three nominees to the National Symphony Orchestra.  They were reviewed by a National Symphony Orchestra committee, which then presented its selection to Maestro Fischer for confirmation.

"We were very impressed by the quality of the West Virginia composers who submitted their work for our consideration," said David Hardy, Chair of the Artistic Committee.  "Grant Cooper's submission was particularly interesting, and we are eager to hear the results of the commission."

Cooper will receive a $5,000 commission award and travel expenses related to the premiere of the composition.

In addition to serving as artistic director and conductor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Cooper is the artistic director of the Bach and Beyond Festival at the 1891 Fredonia NY Opera House.  Cooper's original compositions have been performed recently by symphony orchestras in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Utah, Florida, Ohio, New York, Texas and West Virginia.  His newest original compositions include A Song of Longing, Though, ... which will be performed this summer by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and Appalachian Autumn, which will premiere in November at performances of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.  His ballet, On the Appalachian Trail, was premiered at Chautauqua this summer.

Cooper's Other Voices..., for solo flute, was commissioned by Lindsey Goodman and received its first West Virginia performance at FestivALL, 2010.  His music for Charlie Chaplin at the Symphony was premiered by the WVSO in March 2009 and subsequently performed by the Muscatine Symphony, the Shenandoah Music Festival Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony.  It will also be featured in performances by the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in May 2011.  Cooper's compositions for children are a mainstay of the WVSO Young People's Concert programming and have been translated for Spanish and German speaking audiences.

American Residencies are sponsored in part by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.   Massey Energy Company was a generous sponsor of the 2010 NSO West Virginia Residency.  Chamber music and outreach events were made possible in part by the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.  The NSO American Residency concert in Charleston was supported in part by Arch Coal, Inc.

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About AEI:

Since its inception in 2001, the Appalachian Education Initiative (AEI) has been dedicated to ensuring that quality arts education should be a central part of the education of every public school student in West Virginia. For more information, go to www.aeiarts.org.

About the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN):

KCAAEN is a coalition of statewide non-profit organizations working in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to support policies, practices, programs and partnerships that ensure the arts are an essential part of American K-12 education.