Dallas Wind Symphony Performs U of M Professor's Fanfare
For release: September 28, 2004
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey

A composition by Dr. Jack Cooper of the University of Memphis was chosen as one of eight fanfares the Dallas Wind Symphony will feature this season. Cooper's "Scene for Brass," was among 79 fanfares submitted for consideration by the orchestra, which performed it just prior to the group's Sept. 14 season-opening concert.

This is the third year the Dallas Wind Symphony has invited composers from all over the world to submit fanfares. Fifteen minutes before each concert, a small ensemble of symphony musicians performs a selected fanfare in the lobby of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The fanfare has become a highly popular feature of the season's concerts.

"Scene for Brass" is "an extension of the first movement of my brass quintet," said Cooper. "It was written to start a concert, with a lot of energy."

Cooper explained that he adapted the start of the brass quintet he composed four years ago by "creating more voices, expanding the harmonic palette and adding to the melodies."

Copper is an associate professor and director of jazz studies in the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. Before joining the U of M in 1998, he performed, wrote, and toured with the U.S. Army Jazz Knights.

The California native began composing while he was a student at Fullerton College. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from California State University at Los Angeles and a doctorate from the University of Texas. Cooper is an active composer and has written numerous pieces for strings and brass, although he is a saxophone/woodwind performer.

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