Jane Coop

Jane (Austin) Coop. Pianist, teacher, b Saint John, NB, 18 Apr 1950.  She won the CBC Talent Festival in 1970, the W.O. Forsyth Memorial Scholarship (for study in Europe) in 1971, and the Baldwin Prize in the Maryland International Piano Competition in 1972. She made her debut at the St Lawrence Centre in 1973. Between 1969 and 1980 she appeared 10 times with the TS; she also played with the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra in 1972 and with the Calgary Philharmonic in 1976.  In 1980 she began teaching at the University of British Columbia, where as of 2003 she remained as professor of piano and chamber music. Concurrently with this commitment, she maintained an active concert career, appearing as recitalist or soloist in, among other places, New York, London, Washington, Moscow, Paris, Warsaw, Brussels, Budapest, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Prague, and Utrecht. She also played on numerous occasions in the USA (eg, with the Seattle and Oregon symphony orchestras) and in Canada with all major orchestras including the NACO, and the Edmonton, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg symphony orchestras, and with such chamber ensembles as the Orford, Purcell, and Colorado string quartets and the York Winds. Coop toured Asia in 1994, performing in Japan, China, and Hong Kong. In 1989 she received a Killam Research Prize at the University of British Columbia. Earlier she created, with her husband, radio and festival producer George Laverock, the Skylark recording label. Coop recorded extensively; several of her recordings were nominated for Juno awards. She appeared at festivals including Festival Vancouver and the Kneisel Hall Festival in Maine, gave master classes, and served on juries including for the E-Gré and Dublin International piano competitions.