Two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been called a “luminous standout” by the New York Times and “equal parts poise, radiance and elegant directness” by Opera News. This season marks Cooke’s appointment at the Music Academy of the West as co-director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute.
Cooke opened the 2022/23 season with a return to Houston Grand Opera in her role debut as Thirza in the company’s new production of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, conducted by Patrick Summers. On the concert stage, she performs throughout the United States and abroad: in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Houston Symphony, conducted by Juraj Valčuha; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Wiener Konzerthaus; Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, alongside Gemma New, and Mozart’s Requiem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Klaus Mäkelä, and later with Nashville Symphony.
She debuts with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, and the Utah Symphony in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, which she later performs with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under Alan Gilbert. She returns to the Chicago Symphony for works by Vivaldi, to the Philadelphia Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah and to Kansas City Symphony for Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.
Special collaborations on the recital stage include Jake Heggie’s Intonations: Songs for the Violins of Hope with Music of Remembrance, recitals with guitarist Jason Vieaux at San Francisco Performances and Round Top Festival and a recital at Kaufman Music Center, alongside pianist Kirill Kuzmin featuring how do I find you, a collection of words and music (2020) that was recorded and released on the Pentatone label in January 2022.
Cooke’s concert dress is designed by Atelier Rosemarie Umetsu.
