The Alba Commission
2025 WINNER: DEREK COOPER (‘19)
We are thrilled to announce Derek Cooper, a 2019 Alba Composition Program Alum, as the recipient of the 2025 Alba Alumni Commission, a commission in honor of the late American composer, William Thomas McKinley, and supported by a gift from the William Thomas McKinley Foundation. Inagurated in 2017, this commission is awarded annually to one of the alumni of the Alba Music Festival Composition Program. Derek will compose a new work for the 2025 resident group, counter)induction for a premiere during the 2025 Alba Music Festival.
Dr. Derek Cooper’s music has been performed worldwide by groups including Contemporaneous, Decoda, Sonic Apricity, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania wind ensemble, Jenny Lin, Lisa Pegher, Yarn/Wire, Ekmeles, the Iridium Saxophone Quartet, and Blueshift Ensemble. His piece, Kill James, was awarded for the New York Composers Circle’s 2019 John Eaton Memorial Composition Competition and his works have been lauded in several publications for their ingenuity and passion. In 2016, Derek joined the ICEBERG collective, a select and diverse group of emerging New York composers. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Theory and Composition from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He then went on to receive his Master’s of Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from Manhattan School of Music while studying with Dr. Reiko Füting and Dr. Richard Danielpour.
Dr. Cooper acts as Chair of Composition and Musicianship for Hoff-Barthelson Music School where he also teaches composition, musicianship, and music technology along with directing the school’s Compose Yourself! Festival in collaboration with Copland House. In addition, he is an instructor at Manhattan School of Music and teaches music theory at Ramapo College of New Jersey’s School of Contemporary Arts and City College of New York while also overseeing the composition department for Manhattan School of Music’s Summer Division.
His music is published through his own website as well as Knightwind Music, JustATheory Press, and NewMusicShelf.