A violinist with “absolute conviction and glimmering silver thread of tone,” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), Thomas Lee Cooper has established himself as one of the most dynamic young musicians of his generation. A three-time winner of New England Conservatory’s Entrepreneurial Musicianship award, Cooper is the founder and Artistic Director of Fermata Chamber Soloists, an award-winning collective of young artists performing innovative concerts.
In the 2024 - 2025 season, Cooper appears regularly in concerts as a soloist and chamber musician, with engagements to include appearances at the Bar Harbor Music Festival, Red Door Chamber Music, and the Croatian Museum of Natural History in Zagreb. Additionally, Cooper will join several local orchestras as guest concertmaster, including the Boston Chamber Symphony, and the Apollo Ensemble of Boston.
Previously, Cooper has appeared as soloist with several orchestras, including the Colorado College Festival Orchestra, the Coeur D’Alene Symphony Orchestra, the Credo Baroque Orchestra, the Bar Harbor Music Festival Orchestra, the Du Bois Orchestra, and the Middlesex Chamber Orchestra among others. He is a laureate of the 2017 Naftzger and 2019 Cremona International Competitions, and was a semi- finalist at the 2018 Washington International Competition. He has performed as a soloist in venues such as Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, the Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium at the Stradivari Museum in Cremona, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
With a love of conductor-less ensemble playing, Cooper has appeared as a guest musician with many of the finest chamber orchestras in the country, including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra. He has spent his summers performing at Keshet Eilon in Israel, the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, Nagold Sommermusik in Bavaria and Festival Orford Musique in Quebec.
As a chamber musician, Cooper has had the fortune of sharing the stage with such groups and individuals as the Oberlin Trio, the Jupiter String Quartet, David Bowlin, Amir Eldan, Evgeny Sinaiski, and Per Ennokson. An avid performer of new music, Cooper has appeared on the Boston Symphony Orchestra's "What I Hear" concert series, showcasing works of living composers commissioned by the BSO.
As an educator, Cooper is on faculty at Credo Music in Ohio, Project STEP in Boston, and was a guest faculty member at Music Adventure in Spannocchia, Italy. A native of the Boston area, Cooper received his formal training at New England Conservatory and Oberlin Conservatory.
Cooper performs on a 1751 Gennaro Gagliano, on generous loan from a private collection.
