He studied at Florida State University with John Boda, Edward Kilenyi and Ernst von Dohnányi.
In 1994, he founded the Coral Gables Mainly Mozart Festival, a chamber music series held each summer, for which he was artistic director until 2012.
As a pianist, his first recordings of piano concerti were by Brüll, Dreyschock and Raff, and of a substantial selection of salon music by Franz Hünten and Henri Herz (Genesis label).
The author of numerous annotations for LP and CD recordings, Cooper has published more than 50 articles on musical subjects, has provided program notes to major venues and has been the subject of numerous articles, reviews and broadcasts in the U.S., Canada, England, France, Italy, Netherlands and Serbia.
A recipient of the Liszt Centennial Medal from the Hungarian Ministry of Culture, Cooper is senior advisor to Miami's Patrons of Exceptional Artists.