Paul Cooper

Cooper taught at the University of Michigan School of Music and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music prior to joining the Rice University Shepherd School of Music as a founding member in 1974. He remained there until his death in 1996, at which time he held the Lynette S. Autrey Endowed Chair and was the Composer-in-Residence at the Shepherd School.

In addition to a Fulbright, he was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and from the Ford, Rockefeller, and Rackham Foundations. Some of his notable students include Gabriela Lena Frank, Svend Nielsen, and Ellsworth Milburn.

While Cooper experimented with compositional techniques popular during the middle of the twentieth century, including serialism and aleatory, much of his music follows traditional structures, with numerous works in "absolute (established) forms," including six string quartets, numerous concertos (including two for violin, one for saxophone, and one for flute), and six symphonies. Ross Lee Finney characterized Cooper's music as having "a deep emotional motivation and at the same time a simplicity and clarity that comes from his mastery of craft.

Co-runs Project Squared. Co-runs Project Mooncircle. Has made and released music as Mr Cooper (instrumental hip hop, production for rappers).

I started this label as my music taste is branching out from hip hop and electronic “listening” music and is becoming more focused on music to dance to, primarily dubstep and techno and the places inbetween these two genres. I found two artists who deserved to be released on vinyl and decided to make a label for them and hopefully others to follow… Maybe even for my own productions in the realm of techno and dubstep eventually, if they get good enough to release.