Ed Cooper
Ed Cooper is a composer, artist, and researcher based in Leeds, UK. Encompassing Deep Listening techniques, considerations of time, and the instabilities of musical bodies, his practice centres around aural liminalities. In particular, he is interested in attempting to sustain these ephemeral ‘in-betweens’, perhaps perpetually, in the (aural) attention of both listeners and performers. As such, his work is often very quiet, fragmentary, and starts and ends are immaterial.
Cooper’s music has been performed across North America and Europe and he has worked with international ensembles and artists such as Apartment House, Reanimation Orchestra, Jack Adler-McKean, Ryoko Akama, Heather Roche, and Kate Ledger. In 2019, his piece places/place was featured on BBC Radio 3 and he was awarded the Berkofsky Arts Award for his sound installation Experiencing Time/Timing Experience. In 2016, he attended the Irish Composition Summer School to work with John McLachlan, Gráinne Mulvey and The Robinson Panoramic Quartet.
He is currently studying a practice-led PhD at the University of Leeds, supervised by Scott McLaughlin and Martin Iddon; this is fully funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, through the White Rose College of Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH). He has published writings in TEMPO investigating Wandelweiser music and masculinity, and in SoundEffects examining homelessness and sound studies. He teaches on a variety of undergraduate modules at the University of Leeds and also sings tenor in The Clothworkers Consort of Leeds.
