While at Yale, Dr. Cochran studied under Marguerite Brooks and Fenno Heath.  He received further training from Robert Shaw, Sir David Willcocks, and from Helmuth Rilling as a master-class conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival, where he directed both the Festival Choir and Orchestra and the Kyoto Bach Choir from Japan.  Selected as a conducting fellow at the Chorus America/Chicago Symphony Association Conducting Workshop, he led the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus under the tutelage of Stephen Cleobury, Fiora Contino, and Gustav Meier.

Studies in composition, orchestration and arranging were taken with Maury Yeston, Willie Ruff, Gerald Moshell, and Fenno Heath.  Dr. Cochran recently became a published composer with the E.C. Schirmer Music Company (Boston) - four of his works will be released this fall..

In 1992, Dr. Cochran accepted the position of Artistic Director and Conductor of Anchorage Concert Chorus.  During his tenure, the Concert Chorus has collaborated with all of the major arts organizations in Anchorage as well as with various orchestras from both the “lower 48” and abroad, including the National Symphony (USA), the Academy of Oxford Orchestra (England), the Moscow and St. Petersburg State Philharmonic Orchestras (Russia), and the Karlovy Vary Symphonic Orchestra (Czeck Republic).  The Chorus also has had the privilege of sharing the stage with a range of celebrity artists that have included Jerome Hines, Judy Collins, and the Chieftains.

In addition to his appointment as conductor of the 160-voice Concert Chorus and its 40-voice Chorale ensemble, Dr. Cochran has served on the faculties of the University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University as Director of Choral Activities.  He has extensive experience at the secondary level as well, holding teaching positions at public and private schools in Alaska and Connecticut, including Grace Christian School, Service High School and the Canterbury School (Connecticut).  Over the course of his twenty-year professional career, Dr. Cochran has appeared as music director, accompanist, adjudicator, singer, and actor for various opera, theatre, choral, and church organizations throughout the United States.
His professional work in Anchorage is nicely complemented by a busy home life that includes his wife, Lorna, and their four children: Hailey, Madison, Drew, and August.