Kevin Cooper is a guitarist from central California and a founding member of the Grammy-nominated early music group, Agave. He has performed with numerous groups including Ensemble Mirable, Musica Angelica, Musica Pacifica, Tesserae, Fresno Philharmonic, and Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. Gramophone has praised him saying, “Kevin Cooper excels,” while Early Music America and the San Francisco Classical Voice have said his playing is “stylish” and “a blast!” Kevin’s recent publications include original guitar compositions like Precious Stones and Sting of the Blood Orange (Doberman-Yppan). His recordings include several projects with Agave as well as Night of Four Moons, a CD of modern music with mezzo-soprano Catherine Cooper. The Fresno Arts Council honored him with the 2022 President’s Award for exceptional cultural contribution to the community, and in 2006 he was named the Outstanding Doctoral Graduate in Music from the University of Southern California where he studied with William Kanengiser and James Tyler. Currently, he leads the guitar program at Fresno City College.