Robert V. Cooper, Jr., Executive Director
Robert V. Cooper, Jr. has served as the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Youth Orchestras program since January, 1999. In that time, the Academy has grown from three ensembles and 170 students to ten ensembles and nearly 400 students. He is an active member of the Youth Orchestra Division Board of the League of American Orchestras, and serves as the Division secretary. A native of Palmyra, New Jersey and a graduate of Palmyra High School, Cooper is a graduate of Georgetown University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service in 1976.
Since June, 1999, he has served as the organist/choir director of Lutheran Church of Our Savior (LCMS), and is active with the Oklahoma City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and has been on the steering committees for Pipe Organ Encounters and the 2011 regional convention in Oklahoma City. He is also a member of the Lutheran Musicians of Central Oklahoma.
His wife, Lizann, is the music teacher at Apollo Elementary in the Putnam City School District. All three of their children (Holliann, horn; Robert, III, oboe; and Lynleigh, trombone) are alumni of the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra.
