He graduated music school in
Odessa as violinist and composer. Until 1898 he played recitals as violinist and learned conducting independently. He also studied conducting with
Arthur Nikisch. In 1899, together with tenor
Leonid Sobinov and bass
Feodor Chaliapin, he toured Russian cities conducting opera. He conducted in many venues in Russia,
Western Europe and the United States subsequently. He premiered
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera
The Golden Cockerel in 1909;
Reinhold Glière's epic Third Symphony, '
Ilya Murometz' on 23 March 1912,
Myaskovsky's gloomy and turbulent
Third Symphony on April of 1914. He also conducted
Rimsky-Korsakov's
Kashchey the Immortal in January 1917 at the
Bolshoi Theatre in
Moscow. He emigrated to the West in 1924, and was a long-time staff conductor at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York. From 1944 until his death in 1960, Cooper conducted for Pauline Donalda's Opera Guild of Montreal. == References ==