The internationally heralded cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper stands out among her peers not only for her polished virtuosity but for her fierce intelligence and imaginative programming. Her natural stage presence and effervescent personality inform all aspects of her musicianship—whether as recitalist, soloist with orchestra, recording artist, teacher, lecturer, or as a member of a chamber performance. But it is her curiosity and enthusiasm that have led her to commission and play works by Lera Auerbach, Josef Bardanashvili, Kenji Bunch, Mario Davidovsky, Avner Dorman, Tan Dun, Philip Glass, Tania Leon, Roberto Siera, and Benjamin Yusupov. She serves as Co-Director with Joel Sachs and Cheryl Seltzer of the pioneering New York-based contemporary music group Continuum. Over the years, critics from The New York Times have extolled her praises on numerous occasions: “Kristina Cooper gave a sensational performance…of the cello threnody;” “In the cello sonata, Kristina Reiko Cooper played the challenging cello line with a fluidity that made it seem easy;” “Ms. Cooper’s cello solos sang out in the slow movement with elegance and fine sentiment.”

A turning point in her life came when Ms. Cooper created a consortium of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, and the American Society of Yad Vashem to commission composer Lera Auerbach to write Symphony No. 6 “Vessels of Light.”  Scored for cello, chorus, and orchestra, the work commemorates the heroic deeds of Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara who, during World War II in Lithuania, issued between 2,100 and 3,500 life-saving transit visas to Jews. Owing to his courage by defying Japan’s regulations and risking his own life, generations of visa recipient families are alive today, including Ms. Cooper's husband and three children.

The world premiere of “Vessels of Light,” took place in Lithuania on November 5th, 2022, with Ms. Cooper performing as soloist with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra and Kaunas State Choir under the leadership of music director Constantine Orbelian. Kaunas, in addition to being the city where Sugihara was vice-consul and where he issued the visas that saved so many lives, was chosen as the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2022 and the performance of this new work was one of the featured highlights of the celebration.

Since then, other notable performances of “Vessels of Light” have included the American premiere last year with the New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus led by Maestro Orbelian at Carnegie Hall; as well as with the Prague Radio Orchestra conducted by Maestro Alexander Liebreich; UCLA Philharmonia and Chamber Singers conducted by Neal Stulberg; Festival Napa Valley with the Festival Orchestra Napa under the leadership of Maestro Orbelian; Dresden Philharmonie led by François Leleux; and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, Germany, conducted by Alan Gilbert.

Most recently, “Vessels of Light” was presented in Berlin by the Konzerthaus Orchester led by Joana Mallwitz at the Konzerthaus. Reviewing for Germany’s prestigious Süddeutsche Zeitung, Wolfgang Schreiber wrote: “Auerbach adds a unique color to the solo parts—a lyrical, emotionally transcendent cello voice, brilliantly performed by New York cellist Kristina Reiko-Cooper.  Her artistry illuminates the poetic and melodic expressiveness of the music.” (November 19, 2024)

Ms. Cooper’s upcoming appearances as soloist with orchestra include engagements with the Jerusalem Symphony, the Israel Sinfonietta Beer-sheva, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Kinnor Philharmonic, Kansas City, a concert for Arte TV, and Mexico City Philharmonic.

A highlight of the 2024-2025 season will be Ms. Cooper’s appearance as soloist at Sterm Auditorium at Carnegie Hall February 24, 2025, with the New York City Opera and Maestro Orbelian performing the New York premiere of Mieczysław Weinberg’s Fantasy for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 52, and Erich Korngold’s Cello Concert in C Major. An album of these two works as well as the Weinberg Concerto for Cello and Orchestra will be released in the near future on the Delos label.

Ms. Cooper has appeared as soloist with some of the world’s major orchestras in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Henry Crown Theater in Jerusalem, and the Kennedy Center, including with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonie, the Toronto Symphony, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Osaka Symphony, the Tokyo Yomiuri Symhony, and Shanghai Symphony under the batons of conductors including Tan Dun, Alan Gilbert, François Leleux, Alexander Liebriech, Joana Mallwitz, and Constantine Orbelian.

A prolific chamber musician, Kristina won the Walter M. Naumburg Chamber Music Award first prize and has been a member of many renowned ensembles, including the Whitman Quartet, Quartetto Gelato, Opus X, and Intersection. Her many festival appearances include The Lincoln Center Summer Festival, Mostly Mozart, Musicians from Marlboro, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and the Stresa International Music Festival.

Born and raised in New York City, Ms. Cooper holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as a doctoral degree from Juilliard, where she studied cello with Joel Krosnick. Her father, Rex Cooper, is an American pianist and former professor at the University of the Pacific and her mother, Mutsuko Tatman, is a violinist of Japanese descent who served for many years as concertmaster of the American Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Cooper’s grandfather, Tomojiro Ikenouchi, was a highly respected Japanese composer and her great-grandfather, Takahama Kyoshi, was considered the greatest haiku poet of the 20th century.

Ms. Cooper serves as a visiting professor at the Buchmann Mehta School at Tel Aviv University, Israel. She is the founding musical director of The Israel Chamber Music Society, serves as the Vice-President of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. and sits on the board of the Charney Forum for New Diplomacy. Kristina plays on the 1743 Ex-Havermeyer G.B. Guadagnini cello and lives with her husband and three children in Tel Aviv, Israel.