Brenda Miller Cooper

Who is Brenda Miller Cooper?

Brenda Miller Cooper was an American operatic soprano. She studied voice at Case Western Reserve University earning a bachelor's degree in music, after which she pursued graduate studies at the Juilliard School where she earned a Masters in vocal performance. She made her professional opera debut with the Philadelphia Opera Company on November 29, 1943 as Micaëla in Georges Bizet's Carmen with Alice Howland in the title role, Joseph Laderoute as Don José, Giovanni de Surra as Escamillo, and Sylvan Levin conducting. Later that season she returned to that house to portray the title role in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca and Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus.

Miller made her first recital appearance at New York City's Town Hall in 1945. She became a regular performer at the New York City Opera during the late 1940s into the 1950s, making her debut with the company as Tatiana in the company's first production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with director Theodore Komisarjevsky in 1947. Cooper is perhaps best remembered for portraying the role of Beret in the world premiere of Douglas Moore's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Giants in the Earth in 1951. She also performed several times with the CBS Orchestra.