+++
date = "2017-04-18T20:09:00+01:00"
discipline = "Mezzo-soprano"
lastmod = "2017-04-18T20:09:00+01:00"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1545409169/media/webhook-uploads/1492542392807/2017-04-19---Sasha-Cooke---Acosta.jpg.jpg"
primary_image_credit = "Dario Acosta"
publishDate = "2017-04-18T20:09:00+01:00"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/the-santa-fe-opera.md","scene/companies/seattle-opera.md","scene/companies/english-national-opera.md","scene/companies/san-francisco-opera.md"]
slug = "sasha-cooke"
title = "Sasha Cooke"
website = "http://sashacooke.instantencore.com/web/home.aspx"
+++

Grammy  Award-winning mezzo-soprano  Sasha Cooke has  been  called  a  "luminous  standout"  (*New  York  Times*)  and "equal  parts  poise,  radiance  and  elegant  directness"  (*Opera  News*).   Ms.  Cooke  appears  frequently  this  season singing Mahler, whose works she has sung to great acclaim on four different continents. Sought after by the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies, and chamber music ensembles for her versatile repertoire and commitment to new music, Ms. Cooke's season continues to bring world premiere performances and unique artistic collaborations.  Ms. Cooke bookends her 2016-17 season with opera performances of Hänsel und Gretel at the Seattle Opera and a world-premiere by composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell titled *The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs* at The Santa Fe Opera.

Throughout the season her orchestral engagements include the  Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Riccardo   Muti   leading   Prokofiev’s *Ivan   the   Terrible*,   Bernstein’s Symphony   No.   1 “Jeremiah”   with   Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall, and a  staged  version  of  Verdi’s  *Requiem*  with  Houston  Grand  Opera  under  Patrick  Summers.  Her  season  also  features performances  with  Atlanta  Symphony  for  Christopher  Theofanidis' *Creation/Creator*  conducted  by  Robert  Spano, Milwaukee Symphony for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Edo de Waart, Duruflé’s *Requiem* with Cleveland Orchestra conducted Matthew Halls and also with National Symphony Orchestra under Donald Runnicles, Minnesota Orchestra to sing and record Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by Osmo Vänskä, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra singing a concert of Handel, Mahler, and Mozart, Mahler’s *Das Lied von der Erde* with Krzysztof Urbań ski and the Indianapolis Symphony,  Oregon  Symphony  for  Mozart’s *Requiem*  under  Jean-Marie  Zeitouni,  and  Nashville  Symphony  for Harbison’s Requiem that will also be recorded. During the 2015-16 season, Ms. Cooke sang performances of Mahler’s *Das Lied von der Erde* with the San Francisco Symphony  and  New  World  Symphony,  both  under  the  baton  of  Michael Tilson  Thomas,  and  with  the  Tucson Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s *Messiah* with Trevor Pinnock and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, as well as with the  Mormon  Tabernacle  Choir,  and  Beethoven’s Symphony  No.  9  with  the  Nashville  and  Seattle  Symphonies. A frequent  performer  of  contemporary  works,  Ms.  Cooke’s  season  featured  the  world  premiere  of  Marc  Neikrug’s Canta-Concerto with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert. Her  operatic  engagements  during  the  2015-16  season  included  her  role  debut  as  Magdalena  in  Wagner’s *Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg* with San Francisco Opera under the baton of Sir Mark Elder. Ms. Cooke also joined Harry Bicket and The English Concert in her role debut as Medoro in Handel’s *Orlando* on tour to Vienna’s Theater an der Wien,  Birmingham’s  Town  Hall,  Valencia’s  Palau  de  la  Música,  Amsterdam’s  Royal  Concertgebouw,  London’s Barbican Centre, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. 

September 2016 - No alterations to this biography may be made without the permission of IMG Artists. Ms.  Cooke’s  past  seasons  have  included  performances  with  such  wide-ranging  conductors as  Sir  Andrew  Davis, Pinchas  Zukerman,  Leonard  Slatkin,  Gerard  Schwarz,  Riccardo  Frizza,  Jeffrey  Kahane, Jaap  van  Zweden,  Robert Spano,  Tugan  Sokhiev,  Andrés  Orozco-Estrada,  Tugan  Sokhiev,  Jean-Marie  Zeitouni,  Matthew  Halls,  and  Ludovic Morlot.  Previous  orchestral  engagements  have  brought  her  to  the  Los  Angeles  Philharmonic,  Dallas  Symphony, Seattle  Symphony,  Cleveland  Orchestra,  Deutsches  Symphonie-Orchester  Berlin,  Hong  Kong  Philharmonic,  St.  Paul Chamber  Orchestra,  Houston  Symphony,  New  Zealand  Symphony,  Melbourne  Symphony,  MDR  Orchestra,  I  Musici de  Montreal,  Colorado  Symphony,  Tokyo  Symphony,  Orchestre  National  de Lyon,  Berkeley  Symphony,  Chautauqua Symphony,  Indianapolis  Symphony,  Louisiana  Philharmonic,  and  Columbus  Symphony.  Ms.  Cooke  has  performed with  opera  companies  around  the  world  in  the  past  including  Metropolitan  Opera,  Houston  Grand  Opera,  English National  Opera, Opéra  National  de  Bordeaux,  Dallas Opera,  The  Israeli  Opera  and Chicago  Opera  Theater. Previous festival  appearances  have  included  Spoleto  Festival  USA,  Caramoor  International  Music  Festival,  Lucerne  Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, New York Festival of Song, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Seattle Chamber Music Festival,  Chamber  Music  Northwest,  and  the  Santa  Fe  Chamber  Music  Festival.  Ms.  Cooke  has  performed  at  such prestigious  venues  as  the  Hollywood  Bowl,  Kennedy  Center  in  Washington,  D.C.,  Carnegie’s  Zankel  Hall  and  Weill Recital Hall,Wigmore Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. On DVD, Ms. Cooke can be seen in a new production  of *Hansel  and  Gretel*  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  and  the  Grammy  Award-winning  production  of *Doctor Atomic* under conductor Alan Gilbert. Ms. Cooke’s recordings can be found on the Hyperion, Naxos, Bridge Records, Yarlung, GPR Records, and Sono Luminus labels. A graduate of Rice University and  The Juilliard School, Sasha Cooke also attended the Music Academy of  the West, the  Aspen  Music  Festival,  the  Ravinia  Festival’s  Steans  Music  Institute,  the  Wolf  Trap  Foundation,  the  Marlboro Music  Festival,  the  Metropolitan  Opera’s Lindemann  Young  Artist  Development  Program,  and  Seattle  Opera  and Central City Opera’s Young Artist Training Programs.
