Composer Carson Cooman is a prolific figure whose output, cataloged with old-fashioned opus number listings, runs into thousands of works. He is also a noted organist and music critic. Cooman was born in Rochester, New York, on June 12, 1982. He took up the piano at three and the organ at ten, taking lessons from Bruce Klanderman. Cooman attended Harvard University, majoring in music, and went on to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, studying with Bernard Rands and Judith Weir. He has also studied with Alan Fletcher, James Willey, and others. Cooman garnered an ASCAP Standard Award in 1997 while he was still a student, and he has since won the same award many times. His output is varied, including opera, orchestral music, chamber music, and even music for brass band or guitar. By the time he was 30, Cooman had written nearly 1,000 works in a generally accessible style that follows paths laid down by Aaron Copland. During the 2007-2008 season, he fulfilled at least 40 commissions. From 2005 to 2009, Cooman served as the editor of the Living Music Journal, and he is a staff critic for the music review journal Fanfare. In 2006, Cooman became the composer-in-residence at Harvard Memorial Church, and from 2008 to 2011, he served in the same position at Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. He has often been commissioned for choral works. His vocal works have involved collaboration with authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, Mary Louise Bringle, and John Core. Cooman's music began to draw wide attention in the late 2000s decade, and it has been performed on six continents at prestigious venues, including New York's Carnegie Hall, as well as in such unorthodox places as the basket of a hot-air balloon. Cooman has toured widely as an organist, strongly emphasizing contemporary music; he has premiered more than 100 works for organ by himself and other composers, and in 2015, he became Organ and Choral Editor for Lorenz Publishing Company and Sacred Music Press. He has also edited organ music for other companies. Cooman's music has appeared on more than 40 recordings, including at least 20 devoted exclusively to his works, on such labels as Albany, MSR Classics, and Divine Art. In 2021, Cooman issued his Twilight Poems for piano, Op. 1395.