Emil Cooper (1877-1960) was a Russian-born conductor who worked in Europe and the United States. He conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and was active in opera and symphonic repertory.

In the Pristine catalogue he appears in Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, including Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with Jussi Björling and Bidú Sayão.

Cooper’s conducting was grounded in theatre practice and the demands of large repertory houses. He belonged to the generation for whom operatic pacing, language and stage discipline were daily tools.

His page is justified by a substantial career and by his place in Met broadcast history. Cooper was one of the working conductors who kept the repertory turning under the lights.