New York's Cooper Union Shuts Down Performing Arts Series

By Ben Mattison
December 3, 2004

Cooper Union has suspended its Cooper Arts performing arts series because of lack of funds, a university spokesperson confirmed today.

The series' last performance, for the time being, will be a performance tomorrow night of Morton Feldman's Patterns In A Chromatic Field by cellist Charles Curtis and pianist Alec Karis.

The spokesperson emphasized that the suspension was temporary, and added that the university will continue to be a "center for culture and musical performance."

Cooper Arts was created in 1999. This fall, concerts included a tribute to poet John Ashbery with the vocal ensemble Speculum Musicae, a performance of Steve Reich's seminal Drumming, and the early music group Pomerium in a program of music by 15th-century composer Johannes Ockeghem.

The university is discussing possible funding for the series with the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.