Dr. James Cook
Department Chair/Keyboard
Dr. James Cook, harpsichordist, clavichordist, and fortepiano specialist has a distinguished career as a performer on all of these instruments. He has performed throughout the Northwestern United States on National Endowment of Humanities Fellowships, performing the music of Bach, Haydn and Mozart in lecture and concert formats. He is a specialist on performance practice styles and has researched the music in Europe. In the 1980's he toured Europe, performing chamber music and solo concerts in Paris, Munich and Vienna. As well as solo tours, he was a featured artist and the International Haydn Festival in Fertod, Hungary in 1982, performing the sonatas of Haydn and Mozart on the original Haydn Fortepiano at Esterhazy. Dr. Cook has published articles on the performance practices of Classical music and has recently recorded a CD performance of the first volume of the Well Tempered Clavier by Bach. He owns a replica of a 1792 Fortepiano by the Dulcken Family of builders from Munich and he owns a clavichord, built by Owen Daly of Salem, Oregon. Dr. Cook has received numerous grants and awards to study the music and culture of the Eighteenth Century and he currently teaches a course in the music and art of the period at Boise State University.