Frank Cooper

Frank Cooper (born 1938, in Atlanta, Georgia) is currently Research Professor Emeritus, Musicology, at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami (Coral Gables, Florida), since retiring from his professorship in 2013, and is internationally known as the founder of the Festival of Neglected Romantic Music. Education He studied at Florida State University with John Boda, Edward Kilenyi and Ernst von Dohnányi. From 1963 to 1977, he was a member of the faculty at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Conductor In 1968, he founded the Festival of Neglected Romantic Music, which he directed until 1977. The Festival almost immediately attracted the attention of Harold C. Schonberg, music critic of The New York Times, who ultimately credited Cooper with personally jump-starting international interest in the Romantic Revival in music. Many seminal works of the Romantic era that had not been heard since the 19th century received their first performances at the Festival. Schonberg and other critics commented on the high professional level of the presentations, and certain specific performers became associated with the Festival.