Matt Cooper recently retired from 28 years of teaching piano, theory and jazz studies at Eastern Oregon University. He has played accordion for the Depot Street Syncopators, the Tailgators, Irish Session, Moody Brews, and other Northeast Oregon bands, and will be performing solo accordion at Oregon’s Alpenfest this September. He has studied accordion with Alicia Baker, John Polese, David Vallelunga, and Marge Woodford. He taught accordion at the 2020 Bridging the Gap festival and teaches private lessons through Art Center East in La Grande.
He also taught jazz piano, improv and theory at summer camps such as UO Summer Music Institute, OSU Piano Jazz Institute, and Oregon East Symphony summer camp, and will be teaching and performing at the Festival for Creative Pianists this June. As a pianist, he is the author of a book on Duke Ellington’s piano styles, and has performed in Amsterdam, England, Russia, Canada, and Argentina as well as throughout much of the U.S.