David Cope has been active throughout his career as a composer, educator, writer, and musical innovator. He studied at Arizona State University and the University of Southern California, working with George Perle, Ingolf Dahl, Halsey Stevens, and Grant Fletcher. He has taught for many years at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He has written numerous compositions which have been performed around the world. Many have been published and recorded. He has written numerous textbooks on elements of contemporary musical composition (including "Techniques of the Contemporary Composer" and "New Directions in Music") which are in standard use in academic circles around the world. He is known as one of the leaders in the field of "algorithmic composition." Since 1982, he has worked on a computer software system, called "Experiments in Musical Intelligence" which (based on source material) composes music in the style of various composers. The program has successfully produced music in the styles of diverse composers from Albinoni to Gershwin and many large works, including a full length (3-hour) opera in the style of Gustav Mahler. He has published a number of books about this pioneering software. His sole film score is Out (1982).