Soper, Lee

Cornet player, educator and trumpeter who attended the Manhattan School of Music and studied with William Vacciano.

Groups with whom he has worked include the American Brass Band, the American Brass Quintet, the American Composers Orchestra, the American Symphony, the Center for Contemporary Opera Orchestra, the Concordia Festival Orchestra, the EOS Chamber Music Ensemble, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Music Today, the New Amsterdam Brass, the New York Chamber Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the New York Pops, the New York Trumpet Ensemble, the P.D.Q. Bach Orchestra, the Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and the West Point Band.

On 17^th July 1987, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and New York Choral Artists joined forces with mezzo-soprano Jane Bunnell, soprano Sylvia McNair, bass Jan Opalach and tenor Scott Weir at Avery Fisher Hall for a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor.

The New York Chamber Symphony and their chorus teamed up with conductor and organist Anthony Newman for a Baroque Christmas program that included George Frideric Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”, “The King Shall Rejoice”, “My Heart is Inditing” and “Organ Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 4”, and Henry Purcell’s “Rondeau” from Abdelazar and “Trumpet Tune in C” on 27^th December 1997.

On 4^th April 1999, Lee and baritone Christopher Mooney interpreted “The Trumpet Shall Sound” from Messiah by Handel at the Larchmont Avenue Presbyterian Church. The concert was rounded out with “Easter Chorale” by Samuel Barber and “Hallelujah” from Christ on the Mount of Olives by Ludwig van Beethoven.

The Concordia Festival Choir and Orchestra offered up excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and one of the many trumpet concerti of Giuseppe Torelli, with Lee as soloist, at Concordia College in Bronxville on 25^th April 1999.

On 23^rd April 2000, Christopher and Lee reprised “The Trumpet Shall Sound” at Larchmont in a performance that included “Christ Our Passover” by Alec Wyton, and “Hallelujah Chorus” and “Ode for a Festival Day” by Handel.

Lee eulogized at a memorial concert for his former teacher William Vacchiano at The Juilliard School on 11^th January 2006.

Recordings on which he appears include: the soundtrack of Anima Mundi and Glass Box by Philip Glass; Art of the Trumpet by Edward Carroll; Bach for All Seasons with The Bach Players and the Holy Trinity Bach Choir; Bach: Sinfonias & Orchestral Movements from Cantatas and Baroque Duets with the Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York; Baroque Masterpieces; Baroque Trumpetissimo; CBS Masterworks Dinner Classics: Sunday Brunch Album; The Handel Collection; Handel: Greatest Hits; and, The Yankee Brass Band: Music from Mid-Nineteenth Century America by the American Brass Band.

In the field of music education, he has given private lessons and served on the faculties of Concordia College, Montclair State University, the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, and Purchase College at the State University of New York.

He performs here…

Sources:

Soper, Lee

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