JESSICA COOPER, VIOLA

Jessica Cooper is from Unionville, Connecticut, and holds an MM in viola performance from Boston University, where she is also currently pursuing her Performance Diploma. She received a BA from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, double majoring in music and Spanish. Her primary viola teachers have included Michelle LaCourse, Daniel Doña, Penelope Knuth, Robert Dan, and Carlos Boltes. As a Boston based freelance violist, she is a section member of the New England Symphony Orchestra, though she has also played with the Cape Ann Symphony, Boston Chamber Symphony, Opera Hub Boston, and Music Worcester, among others in the greater Boston area. Jessica is also a rotating principal player in the Boston University orchestras and regularly plays in various chamber music projects. Another way that Jessica helps share her love for classical music is by teaching viola and violin lessons, both privately and in the afterschool program at the Kingsley Montessori School in Boston.

Prior to her time in Boston, Jessica lived in Santiago, Chile, for several years, playing orchestral and chamber music with multiple groups. Most memorably, she played as the principal violist for the National Youth Symphony of Chile, participating in outreach concerts and educational initiatives across the country. Another highlight in Jessica’s orchestral experience was during her time at Bates College, when she won the 2013 Concerto Competition, performing Max Bruch’s Romanze as a soloist with the Bates College Orchestra. As a student at Bates, she also played as the principal violist for the Bates College Orchestra, and formed a part of the ensemble Chase the Fiddlers, a group dedicated to the performance of music from Irish and French Canadian aural traditions.