Dr. P. Blake Cooper is a Los Angeles based freelance tubist who additionally doubles on cimbasso, electric bass, sousaphone and bass trombone.
Blake has become an in demand recording musician in LA for movies, TV and video games. Recording credits include: The Lion King (2019), Coco, Doctor Sleep, Terminator: Dark Fate, It Chapter Two, Christopher Robin, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Cloverfield Paradox, Star Trek: Discovery, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Welcome to Marwen, Little, Triple Frontier, The Umbrella Academy, TAG, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Isn't it Romantic, The Conjuring 2, The Nun, Penny Dreadful, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Live by Night, The Grinch, Sing, The Lone Ranger, 300: Rise of an Empire, Halo Wars 2, League of Legends and many more. Some notable composers Blake has recorded for include Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, Germaine Franco, Danny Elfman, Jeff Beal, The Newton Brothers, Jeff Russo, Tom Holkenborg, Benjamin Wallfisch, Bear McCreary, John Debney, Gordy Haab, Pinar Toprak, Abel Korzeniowski and Alan Silvestri.
As an orchestral musician, Blake has been the Principal Tubist of the New West Symphony since 2013 and has performed with the LA Philharmonic, LA Opera, LA Chamber Orchestra, LA Master Chorale, San Diego Symphony, Pasadena Symphony and POPS, Santa Barbara Symphony, MUSE/IQUE, San Bernardino Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic and the Redlands Symphony.
Blake is also a passionate music educator. Since 2012 he has served as Adjunct Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at California State University, Northridge and has taught at Santa Monica College, La Sierra University and LA City College. From 2010 to 2016 he served as the founding Brass Specialist and Wind Ensemble Director for the LA Phil's El Sistema inspired Youth Orchestra initiative YOLA @ HOLA. During that time Blake also taught for Bard College Longy School of Music MAT where he worked with aspiring El Sistema teachers as a mentor, supervisor and conducting education faculty.
He is a rising leader in the LA music community, serving as a Director on the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 Executive Board and as a Director for the Recording Musicians Association of Los Angeles Executive Board.
Blake, a proud native of Louisville, KY, earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in music education with a minor focus in jazz bass. He then moved to Texas to pursue graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin earning a master's degree in tuba performance and serving as graduate teaching assistant in applied tuba and euphonium. Finally in 2009, Blake moved to LA to pursue a DMA at USC in tuba performance with emphases in music education, jazz bass and instrumental conducting. Blake's past teachers include Jim Self, Norm Pearson, Doug Tornquist, Alphonso Johnson, Charles Villarrubia, Steven L. Bryant and Skip Gray.
