Women’s History Month Feature
PaSH Magazine is celebrating Women’s History Month with a Q&A style mini-series highlighting women from many different industries making an impact in the world, their communities and for themselves. In this Q&A we will spend time with Kristina Reiko Cooper.
Meet Kristina Reiko Cooper
Internationally acclaimed cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper, praised as “sensational in concert” by The New York Times, has performed with leading orchestras including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonie, Prague Radio Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall with the New York City Opera Orchestra. Her extensive touring includes appearances with major ensembles in Tokyo, Toronto, Shanghai, and Jerusalem.
A champion of contemporary works, she has collaborated with Tan Dun and led global performances of Lera Auerbach’s Symphony No. 6. Her upcoming Delos release with Maestro Constantine Orbelian features works by Weinberg and Korngold, accompanied by the documentary Emerging from the Shadows, directed by Veronika Emily Pohl, which follows Cooper and Maestro Orbelian recording with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra in Lithuania, performing works by two extraordinary yet historically overlooked composers, Mieczysław Weinberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, produced by C Major Entertainment.
Ms. Cooper performs on a rare 1743 Ex-Havemeyer Guadagnini cello and is a Visiting Professor at Tel Aviv University. She resides in Tel Aviv and New York with her family.
Was there a pivotal moment in your career that changed the trajectory of your path or helped you step fully into your purpose?
I believe that we are all works in progress and that every step one takes as an artist—and as a person—is another brick laid to build the beautiful creation that is our life. We should not view the various steps we take as creatives as mistakes. We can learn from everything that we have pursued and experienced. I feel I am only now fully encompassing my purpose as an artist and that I can use my full repertoire of skills. At this juncture in my life, I really only pursue projects that have deep meaning for me, not just on a musical and artistic level, but also a historic and narrative one. However, I could not and would not be here, if I had not lived through my different incarnations which had me doing things as diverse as playing crossover music in arenas, attempting to play jazz in clubs, playing the most hardcore of avant garde music and even doing bits of acting on TV and in theatre, as well as modeling in Japan. The pivotal moment for me came once I realized I could use ALL of my past experiences and bring them into my current world of purpose and artistic fulfilment without shame and with my full being.
What is one obstacle you’ve faced as a woman in this industry that you believe your male counterparts may not experience in the same way?
As a woman, I think there is sometimes a subtle expectation to fit into a specific mold,—that there is a preconceived idea of what kind of person and artist one is–an expectation that my male counterparts often sidestep. The industry sometimes prescribes a narrative for women and breaking free from that can be a delicate dance. It requires taut resilience, audacity, and charm—all while maintaining the joy and passion for the art that led to this career in the first place.
How do you stay grounded and maintain your creative voice in an industry that often tries to shape narratives and expectations?
Sometimes it can be quite difficult to maintain one’s unique voice in an industry driven by image—musically, artistically, and commercially. Especially as a woman, expectations can be built into how one should present themselves. The North Star for any artist and dare I say, any ONE, is sincerity. It sounds so simple—even trite—but the fact of the matter is, in life, if you do not pursue what you do with honesty and integrity toward yourself, it comes through to the audience. The audience may not KNOW why what they are listening to, watching, or experiencing is not elevating them or taking them on a journey, but somewhere in their being, they know. They will instead tune in and be attracted to someone who brings their full heart and soul and mind to their craft.
What role has mentorship or community played in your career, and how important is it for women to support other women in entertainment?
I think this is a two-part question so I will answer this one in two parts as two answers.
Mentorship, example and community is the heartbeat of our industry. Our great teachers, coaches, and fellow performers inspire us, allowing us to thrive, grow, and develop as artists and people. I have been incredibly fortunate to have incredible and inspiring mentors who have guided me and helped hone, shape and discipline my passions and pursuits. In my industry, as a youngster, many of the most respected and successful teachers were male, but when I was 14 years old, I had the incredible luck to meet an incredibly special woman who became my main teacher, Eleanore Schoenfeld. Her world and musical viewpoint were unique and distinctly female. She could paint beautiful landscapes with her visualizations of musical phrasing and intent, and it opened up a whole new world for me—a world that I still live and inhabit in every time I take out my cello.
Part Two
Community in the classical music world is one of the single most important components to one’s life as a musician. It is the incredible talent, dedication, and feeling you witness in your colleagues, starting at a very early age, that pushes and inspires you. It can be difficult, especially when one is very young, to learn how to deal with jealousy and use that negative feeling to spur you on. On the other end of that same spectrum, it is unbelievably important to surround yourself with people that inspire you. One MUST immerse oneself in a world of creativity, ambition and excellence in order to thrive and grow and stay excited about what you do. I am blessed to be steeped in a world of incredible colleagues and fellow artists who form one of the most special communities in the world.
How do you balance creative passion with the business side of entertainment?
As an artist, especially as a classical music performer—a profession requiring training from a very early age, we are definitely primed and taught to believe that we should ONLY concentrate on our craft, and that focusing on the business side of what we do is a sort of desecration of our “art.” Of course, as we come into adulthood and well, reality, we all discover that the business side of entertainment is just as important as our art, at least in some sense. That can seem like an insurmountable hurdle at first, but I have found that seeing how the cogs of life operate, it can actually be a FUN part of what we do. It is fascinating to see how the world works. These days, I try to approach it with the same dedication I give to my music, staying organized and strategic while ensuring my creative spirit remains unbridled.
Thank you for reading this installment of the Women’s History Month Features. Come back each day to read a new inspiring story, centering women.
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