Introduction
Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of Classical and Romantic repertoire, Imogen Cooper is internationally renowned for her virtuosity and lyricism. Recent and future concerto performances include the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle, Sydney Symphony with Simone Young and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Thomas Dausgaard.
Imogen has a widespread international career and has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Budapest Festival, NHK and London Symphony Orchestras. Her recital appearances have included Tokyo, New York, Singapore, Paris, Vienna, Prague and the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg.
Imogen is a committed chamber musician and performs regularly with Henning Kraggerud and Adrian Brendel. As a Lieder recitalist, she has had a long collaboration with Wolfgang Holzmair in both the concert hall and recording studio. Her recent recordings for Chandos Records feature music by French and Spanish composers, Beethoven, Liszt and Wagner.
Imogen received a CBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2007 and was the recipient of an award from the Royal Philharmonic Society the following year. In 1997 she was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music and in 1999 she was made a Doctor of Music at Exeter University. The Imogen Cooper Music Trust was founded in 2015, to support young pianists at the cusp of their careers, and give them time in an environment of peace and beauty.
Video & Audio
From The Green Room
Online Performances
Discography
- More info Iberia y Francia
Label: Chandos
Release Date: 30 Aug 19
RAVEL
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Alborada del graciosoFALLA
Homenaje: pièce de guitare écrite pour ‘Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy’DEBUSSY
La Soirée dans Grenade
La puerta del Vino
La Sérénade interrompueALBENIZ
El Albaicín
Évocation
El puerto
Fête-Dieu à SévilleMOMPOU
Canción y Danza No.1DEBUSSY
L’Isle joyeuseALBENIZ
Rumores de la CaletaMOMPOU
Canción y Danza No.6 - More info Imogen Cooper plays Beethoven
- More info Liszt & Wagner
Label: Chandos
Release Date: 03 Mar 17
LISZT
Piano Transcriptions:
Deuxième Valse oubliée, S 215/2
Gretchen, S 513
Four Pieces from ‘Années de Pèlerinage, Deuxième Année: Italie’, S 161
Niages gris, S 199La lugubre gondola I, S 200/1
Bagatelle sans tonalité, S 216aWAGNER
Elegie, WWV 93
Einleitung zu ‘Tristan und Isolde’, WWV 90
Isoldens Liebestod aus ‘Tristan und Isolde’, S 447 - More info Imogen Cooper's Chopin
Label: Chandos
Release Date: 27 May 16
Polonaise-fantaisie, Op. 61 in A-flat major
Nocturne, Op. 62 No. 1 in B major
Nocturne, Op. 62 No. 2 in E major
Fantaisie, Op. 49 in F minor
Ballade No. 4, Op. 52 in F minor
Nocturne, Op. 27 No. 2 in D-flat major
Ballade No. 1, Op. 23 in G minor
Nocturne, Op. 55 No. 2 in E-flat major
Berceuse, Op. 57 in D-flat major - More info Robert Schumann
- More info Robert & Clara Schumann
- More info Songs by Schumann & Reimann
- More info Schumann & Brahms
- More info Schubert Live Volume 3
- More info Schubert Live Volume 2
- More info Schubert Live Volume 1
- More info Mozart Piano Concertos
- More info Mozart Piano Concertos
- More info Mozart Piano Concertos
- More info Wigmore Hall Live
Label: Wigmore Hall Live
Release Date: 15 Mar 06
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 28 in A major Op. 101
MOZART Piano Sonata in A minor K. 310
RAVEL Miroirs
DEBUSSY La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune - More info Wolf Songs
- More info Bach & Brahms Cello and Piano Transcriptions
Gallery
Press
- More info 04 Nov 20 Beethoven Diabelli Variations Fidelio Orchestra Cafe
“So to Imogen Cooper’s marathon labour of… This was Beethoven at his wildest, most unpredictable – it felt mostly fierce at close quarters – and often improvisatory, at least in the earlier variations and, of course, the Bachian arietta-like beauties of Variation 31’s C minor Largo.”
David Nice, The Arts Desk, November 2020
- More info 22 Oct 19 70th Birthday Solo Recital Last three Schubert Sonatas Wigmore Hall
“There is perfection in the way that profound sadness is finally transcended by a shift into heavenly major-key light [in D960], and it needs equal perfection, anchoring and inwardness in the playing… Cooper achieved those qualities at the most profound level.”
★★★★★
David Nice, The Arts Desk, October 2019
“…music-making of this calibre transports us to another plane of existence…”
★★★★★
- More info 13 Sep 19 Iberia y Francia CD release Chandos Records
“[Albéniz works] Piquant, understated, with a sultry heat that smoulders rather than bursting into flame, these are compelling performances informed by the palette of Goya and undergirded with an inerrantly zesty rhythmic élan… For some bottom-line terrific piano playing and programming that inflames the imagination, I suggest you set your internal default to luxe, calme et volupté and prepare for departure. A wonderful journey awaits.”
‘Editor’s Choice’
Patrick Rucker, Gramophone Magazine, September 2019
“Cooper gives vitality and style to four pieces from Albéniz’s hot, atmospheric Iberia suite and two Canción y Danza by Mompou. A favourite from this recital disc is her account of Debussy’s L’isle joyeuse, played with crystalline precision and dreamy freedom.”
Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian, September 2019
“Cooper’s pianism has a rare refinement, and is hyper-sensitive to the composers’ demands… The whole thing is studded with lovely moments: the muted sweetness of ‘Rumores de la Caleta’, the sparkling arpeggiations of ‘Alborada del gracioso’, the seductive languor of ‘Soirée dans Grenade’, the rapt simplicity of Mompou’s sixth ‘Danza’ the graceful liberation of L’isle Joyeuse. Brava!
★★★★★
Michael Church, BBC Music Magazine, November 2019
- More info 09 Mar 19 Beethoven CD release Chandos Records
“Imogen Cooper describes the work as ‘a wonderful journey’… and that is what overwhelmingly comes over in her superb recording… from Variation 29 to the end of the work it all segues like one meditation. Cooper never goes for effect per se: her goal is purely expressiveness.”
Performance: *****
Recording: *****
‘Instrumental Choice’Michael Church, BBC Music Magazine, May 19
“[Bagatelles Op. 119] It takes real artistry to apply such subtle variations of expressive pressure from phrase to phrase as Cooper delights in. Every detail here is patiently appreciated and gracefully addressed: neither self-regardingly spelt out nor diminishing pieces to the status of a mere appetiser.”
David Fanning, Gramophone magazine, May 2019
“She brings drama to the [Diabelli Variations] allegro pesante e risoluto (No 9) and a rapt unfolding of Beethoven’s most profound thought in the three slow variations (Nos 29-31), which comprise the emotional climax of the piece. Cooper’s technical command and musical insights are up there with those of her mentor, Alfred Brendel, or Stephen Kovacevich, and her thoughtful, melancholy delivery of the famous, enigmatic Für Elise is a delectable encore.”
Album of the Week, Hugh Canning, The Times, 17 March 19
“This is something special. It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone following Imogen Cooper’s superb series of albums for Chandos in recent years, but Cooper exemplifies here again a lifetime of experience and depth of execution in the classical solo repertoire… When all is done, there is a sense of greatness here; of the performer, who knows the ins and outs of the score but resists the temptation to lecture it; of the composer and, most importantly, the greatness of the composition, a testament to a great artist at play.”
- More info 26 Jan 19 MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25, K503 BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Ben Gernon Bridgewater Hall
“…she responded by bringing both gentleness and gentility to the piano’s second subject, and they shared a suave and aristocratic saunter through the keys in the fantasy.”
Robert Beale, The Arts Desk, 29 January 2019
- More info 09 Nov 18 Solo Recital Haydn, Adès, Beethoven, Schubert Philadelphia
“She is a great believer in the power of the line – the feeling of pushing through a phrase to the end. A silken, rich sense of melody took listeners happily through the first moments of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in A Flat Major, Opus 110, and throughout the rest of the first movement. And then there is her rich middle-register sense of sound, so deeply satisfying.”
Peter Dobrin, The Inquirer, 9 November 2018
“Ms. Cooper managed, without resorting to interpretative idiosyncrasy, to shine on the three classical works on her program – works I thought I knew well – a light that revealed aspects of them I had not previously been conscious of. Part of the reason for this was, again, intense concentration on harmonic pulse, enhanced by a truly rare and meticulous balancing of melodic lines with inner parts that too often go unheard. Coupled with the lambent tone she drew from the piano, rhythm blessedly flexible yet always lucid, and a quicksilver touch with embellishments, she made Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert all sound like their familiar selves yet at the same time refreshingly new.”
Bernard Jacobson, Seen and Heard International, 8 November 2018
- More info 26 Jun 18 Solo Recital Beethoven Diabelli Variations Wigmore Hall
“Imogen Cooper’s are very much the right hands, containing a rare, refined artistry that only continues to grow with the years… The culminating fugue powered along, indomitable, before the final moment of anguish that ushers in a last, transcendental minuet. This was expertly shaped and finally left us hovering in mid air, almost scared to breathe.”
- More info 17 Mar 18 Solo Recital Wigmore Hall
“The highlight of Cooper’s recital was her marvellously poised, richly intoned account of Haydn’s Sonata in E flat, a work in which concision and structural breadth — as also deep surprise and insouciant inevitability — are exactly matched.”
- More info 18 Aug 17 BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young
“Cooper is known for her poetic interpretations of Schubert… and she brought that poetry, along with elegance and plenty of heft when needed, to her performance of Beethoven’s second piano concerto.”
Steve Moffatt, Daily Telegraph, 21 August 2017 - More info 03 Jun 17 MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25 K. 503 Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle
“Cooper’s fine understanding of sound is characterised by brilliance and precision.”
Berliner Morgenpost, 3 June 2017 - More info 01 May 17 Liszt & Wagner CD release Chandos Records
“Cooper’s keyboard mastery is as searching as the music itself: the whirling bravura of the Deuxième valse oubliée and Bagatelle sans tonalité has their harmonic world sounding astonishingly forward-looking. Her way of balancing chords mesmerises the ear – both in the consonant close of Sposalizio (whose poised opening is exquisitely delivered) and the strangely dissonant final bars of Il penseroso. This is altogether exceptional music making” ★★★★★
Malcolm Hayes, BBC Music Magazine, May 2017 - More info 25 Apr 17 BACH Week Festival review
Music of the Baroque
Conductor: Jane Glover
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major K503“Cooper has long been one of the world’s most eloquent and stylish Mozarteans, like her teacher, Alfred Brendel. Yet her approach to the C major concerto was very much her own — forthright in formal outline, firm yet elegant in tone, crystalline in articulation and chordal voicing, sensitive to the subtlest inflections of rubato, color and dynamics. Cooper and Glover’s shared sensibility worked entirely to the benefit of this most grandly symphonic of Mozart’s final keyboard concertos.”
John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, 25 April 2017 - More info 17 Jun 16 CHOPIN CD Release Chandos Records
“In the quieter lyrical passages [Polonaise-fantaisie] she finds a rare poignancy that I find most affecting – and indeed it is this element that is a constant feature of Cooper’s playing. She has always been rightly lauded for her luminous, rich tone and it is deployed telling in Op 61 and the two late Nocturnes which follow.”
Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone★★★★★ “Atmospheres are intense, intimate, turbulent and dreamlike by turns; and Cooper injects every note with strength of personality”
Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine (Instrumental Choice), September 2016 - More info 08 May 16 The Frick Collection, New York
“After intermission came Schubert’s Sonata in B flat (D. 960), a broadly paced, tightly structured work. Still, it has within it many fleeting gestures similar to Schumann’s: notably, those seemingly heaven-sent incursions of lyricism in the Andante sostenuto. After the wonderful first two movements, the third and fourth can, in the wrong hands, sound empty and rattling by comparison. Ms. Cooper sustained attention admirably, adding rhythmic interest with subtle touches of rubato … Many performances of this sonata prove memorable for the beauty of individual moments. This one stood out in making the work a satisfying whole.”
James R. Oestreich, The New York Times, 10 May 2016 - More info 23 Sep 15 ROBERT SCHUMANN CD release Chandos Records
“… for many years now, Imogen Cooper has reaped glowing reviews and the profound admiration of her colleagues, but have we, as a nation, really awakened to the fact that we have here not only a very distinguished but a truly great pianist? Why is she not ‘damed’? A CBE is not sufficient honour. True, she’s a woman, and woman pianists are still short-changed, but greatness, human or musical, transcends gender. Pianistically alone, Cooper commands a dynamic and colouristic range beyond most pianists. She understands that musical, like verbal, speech acquires eloquence and continuity though the close, asymmetrical juxtapositions of extreme but varied contrasts – as in any polysyllabic word. Nowhere is this truer than in Schumann…” ★★★★★
BBC Music Magazine (Instrumental Choice), November 2015“Every musical twist and emotional turn is negotiated with deftness and insight, and the (Snape Maltings) recording is of demonstration quality.” ★★★★★
Classical Music Magazine, October 2015” … Cooper remains one of the sovereign pianists:
everything she touches exudes integrity, the highest understanding coupled with a melting beauty of sound. Witness the superb articulation within a perfectly
Schumannesque soundworld of the opening
F-sharp minor Novelette, and the amazing sense of rightness … ”
International Piano Magazine (International Piano Choice) Nov/Dec 15“This is the third of Imogen Cooper’s discs centred around Schumann for Chandos and the first wholly devoted to Robert. It’s a fascinatingly programmed affair, taking us from his youthful Abegg Variations right to the end of his life and the Geistervariationen … Everything Cooper does speaks of long acquaintance and real empathy. She opens with the extended Eighth Novellette, which is full of tenderness, passion and humour and never sounds overbearing in the louder passages.”
Harriet Smith, Gramophone, October 2015” … this new discographic landmark takes its place among the most balanced of Schumann’s Keyboard works.”
Michel Le Naour, p109 Classica Magazine, December 2015 - More info 18 May 15 Schubert Piano Trios With Adrian Brendel and Henning Kraggerud
“The performance was characterised by moments of great delicacy and tenderness in which the music spoke for itself. The Scherzo was a frivolous, lighthearted affair in which the musicians seemed to be having fun, with its plaintive trio providing a delicate contrast. Kragarrud started off the Rondo in fine style with Imogen Cooper taking over from him, her fingers scurrying up and down the keyboard. This was a fast, ebullient movement with melody after melody pouring forth and tremendous rapport between the three players.”
Seen & Heard International, 20 May 2015 - More info 07 May 15 Mozart Piano Concertos No. 17 and 24 Seattle Symphony
“Cooper herself is an exemplary example of how Mozart is best played today, discerning and expressing every nuance without overdoing it, portraying emotion with restraint, and introspection lightly carried though clearly present. The lighthearted charm of the first and last movements of No. 17 were contrasted with that restraint and introspection in the slow movement, where the orchestra gave light accompaniment to the outward serenity combined with inner depth of Cooper’s playing.”
Philippa Kiraly, The Seattle Times, 8 May 2015 - More info 06 Jan 15 ROBERT & CLARA SCHUMANN CD Release
“This disc contains some very distinguished Schumann playing…the understanding, individuality and poetic refinement in Cooper’s playing, and the inclusion of piano music by the composer’s wife is a fascinating broadening of our listening experience.”
International Record Review, Jan 2015“Cooper asserts her stylistic credentials right at the start of the disc in Robert’s Humoreske, playing with a warm, golden tone … Cooper’s articulation is clearly defined but also effectively varied in touch and colour; her phrasing in the more meditative music is mellifluous, a quality that beautifully spills over into the F sharp major Romanze.”
Geoffrey Norris, Saturday Telegraph 14 February 2015“In madcap structure, imagination, ambition and sheer wealth of ideas, Schumann’s Humoresque and Sonata No Op 11 are among his most fascinating works … Cooper allows them to cohere naturally through the sheer élan with which she imbues them. Fresh and inspiring … a rich, empathetic and beautifully calibrated recital.” ★★★★
BBC Music Magazine, March 2015
Repertoire
BARTOK Concerto No. 3
BEETHOVEN
Concerto No. 1 in C major Op. 15
Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major Op. 19
Concerto No. 3 in C minor Op. 37
Concerto No. 4 in G major Op 58
Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major Op. 73
Chorale Fantasy in C minor Op. 80
CHOPIN
Concerto No. 1 in E minor
Concerto No. 2 in F minor
HAYDN Concerto in D major
MOZART
Concerto No. 5 in D major K. 175
Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major K. 271
Concerto No. 12 in A major K. 414
Concerto No. 13 in C major K. 415
Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major K. 449
Concerto No. 15 in B-flat major K. 450
Concerto No. 16 in D major K. 451
Concerto No. 17 in G major K. 453
Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major K. 456
Concerto No. 19 in F major K. 459
Concerto No. 20 in D minor K. 466
Concerto No. 21 in C major K. 467
Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major K. 482
Concerto No. 23 in A major K. 488
Concerto No. 24 in C minor K. 491
Concerto No. 25 in C major K. 503
Concerto No. 26 in D major K. 537
Concerto No. 27 in B-flat major K. 595
Concerto No. 10 in E-flat major for 2 pianos K. 365
Concerto No. 7 in F major (2 piano version) K. 242
Rondo in A major K. 386
POULENC Concerto
RAVEL Concerto in G major
SCHUMANN
Concerto in A minor Op. 54
Introduction and Allegro appassionato Op. 92
Chandos
Imogen has recorded seven discs with Chandos Records, the most recent was released in August 2019.
RAVEL
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Alborada del gracioso
FALLA
Homenaje: pièce de guitare écrite pour ‘Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy’
DEBUSSY
La Soirée dans Grenade
La puerta del Vino
La Sérénade interrompue
ALBENIZ
El Albaicín
Évocation
El puerto
Fête-Dieu à Séville
MOMPOU
Canción y Danza No.1
DEBUSSY
L’Isle joyeuse
ALBENIZ
Rumores de la Caleta
MOMPOU
Canción y Danza No.6
Previous recordings feature works by Beethoven, Liszt, Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms and Chopin.
Music Trust
Imogen Cooper has established a Trust whose aim will be to enable young pianists to work with her in the countryside in peace and quiet. She believes passionately that music lives longer in the ear and the spirit if unviolated over a period of time by extraneous noises, and that a deeper level of discovery becomes possible; she has experienced this many times and it is unforgettable.
Imogen would like to give back to a younger generation the generosity of time that Alfred Brendel and others gave to her. To date, Pavel Kolesnikov, Lara Melda, Mishka Momen, Samson Tsoy and Alexandra Vaduva have all been scholarship holders.
For more information please contact [email protected].
Interview here.
Brochure on the Trust here.