Kuper Emil Albertovich (born December 1, 1877, Kherson – died November 16, 1960, New York) — conductor, violinist.

In his youth, Emil Kuper performed as a violinist in many European cities. Studied at the Odessa Music School and, from 1891 to 1893, at the Vienna Conservatory. In the late 1880s, lived and worked for a time with his family in Constantinople.

From 1891 to 1896, toured as a violinist in Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest. From 1896, he worked as concertmaster of the orchestra of the Kiev Opera House, later becoming a conductor. From 1898, he conducted in the opera theaters of Odessa, Kharkov, and Rostov-on-Don; from 1900 to 1907, he was conductor of the Kiev Opera House; from 1907, conductor of the Zimin Opera (Moscow); and from 1910 to 1919, conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow).

From 1908, Emil Kuper was a permanent conductor of the symphonic concerts of the Moscow branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society; from 1909 to 1914, chief conductor of Diaghilev’s Russian Seasons in Paris and London; and from 1919 to 1924, chief conductor of the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Petrograd.

In 1925, he toured in Riga, and from 1926 to 1929, he worked as chief conductor of the Latvian National Opera. There, he conducted productions of The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, The Golden Cockerel, Sadko, Khovanshchina, The Valkyrie, Othello, Werther, The Girl of the West, Lakmé, Andrea Chénier, Romeo and Juliet (by Gounod), and La Gioconda (by Ponchielli).

In 1928, at the invitation of Feodor Chaliapin, he and the choir of the Latvian National Opera participated in a performance of Boris Godunov in Berlin. Alongside his work in Riga, Kuper performed in many opera houses around the world and conducted symphonic concerts in Riga. He also taught conducting at the Latvian Conservatory — among his students was L. Vīgner.

From 1929, Emil Kuper worked in the United States. Between 1932 and 1936, he conducted at the Grand Opera in Paris and at La Scala in Milan; from 1944 to 1950, he was a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera (New York). From 1950 to 1960, he served as chief conductor of the symphony orchestra in Baton Rouge (USA) and of the opera house in Montreal (Canada).

Author of several musical works, the essay “In Memory of Arthur Nikisch” (1922), and an autobiography, “A Brief Overview of My Musical Career.”

References:

1929, No. 23, Segodnya p. 6; Kuper v Parihze (Kuper in Paris), 1929, No. 50.