Sasha Cooke, Mezzo-soprano

Biography

The fast-rising mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been acclaimed for opera roles, as soloist with
orchestra, as well as in song recitals. 
Her 2009-10 season includes return engagements with the San Francisco
Symphony with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and the title role in Gilbert
and Sullivan's Iolanthe.  She also sings the role of Meg in Falstaff with the Seattle Opera and the
role of Medea in Jason with Chicago
Opera Theater.  Ms. Cooke performs in
song recitals at the Lied Center of Kansas, for the Marilyn Horne Foundation,
SummerFest in La Jolla, the Bridgehampton
Chamber Music Festival, with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the
New York Festival of Song.  Upcoming
engagements include appearances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Milwaukee, Colorado, Seattle, Modesto, Kansas City, San
Diego, and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, and with the
Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Last
season, Ms. Cooke was presented by Young Concert Artists at Lincoln Center with
the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and starred at the Metropolitan Opera in the
premiere of John Adams' Doctor Atomic,
in the role of Kitty Oppenheimer, a part which she subsequently performed with
the English National Opera in her European debut.  She sang with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
and with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall as well as with the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. 
She sang the role of Olga in Tchaikovsky's Evgeny Onegin with the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv and participated
in the 2009 Spoleto USA Festival and the 2008 Marlboro Chamber Music
Festival. 

As
a First Prize winner of the 2007 Young Concert Artists International Auditions,
Ms. Cooke has given acclaimed recitals at the Kennedy Center's
Terrace Theater and at Carnegie's Zankel Hall. 
Other recent notable appearances have included a recital at the National
Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington,
DC, a performance at the Bard
Music Festival, and for the Marilyn Horne Foundation.  Ms. Cooke won First Prizes in the Sun Valley
Opera Vocal Competition and the Bach Vocal Competition sponsored by the
American Bach Society and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem.  Sasha Cooke earned her Bachelor's Degree from
Rice University and her Master's Degree from
The Juilliard School.  She has also
attended the Music
Academy of the West, the
Aspen Music Festival, and the Ravinia Festival's Steans Institute. Ms. Cooke is
a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the
Metropolitan Opera.