Praised by The New York Times for “combining the outward purity of a Renaissance angel and a voice of powerful warmth and excellent musicality,” American mezzo-soprano SASHA COOKE is equally at home in operatic, orchestral and recital settings.    

During the 2007-2008 season, Ms. Cooke performs with the Met Chamber Ensemble and James Levine at Carnegie’s Weill Hall and appears at the Metropolitan Opera in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.  She performs as soloist with Orchestra New England and appears at the Bard Music Festival (NY), The Colonial Theatre (MA), Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, University of Georgia, and National Museum of Women in the Arts (DC).  In the spring of 2008 she appears several times in New York, singing music of Bach at Miller Theater and with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, appearing in premieres by John Musto and William Bolcom with the New York Festival of Song, and giving recitals at the Goethe Institute and Bruno Walter Auditorium presented by the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera.  In the summer of 2008, she travels to Tel Aviv for performances as Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Evgeny Onegin with Israeli Opera and also appears at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.  Next season she will appear as Kitty Oppenheimer in the New York premiere of John Adams Doctor Atomic at the Metropolitan Opera and will sing the same role with English National Opera, in her European debut.

Ms. Cooke won First Prize in the 2007 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.  She made her Washington, DC debut in the Young Concert Artists Series at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater in September 2007 and her New York debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in October 2007.  Ms. Cooke is a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program of the Metropolitan Opera.  At the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Ms. Cooke was also honored with the Rhoda Walker Teagle Prize, which sponsored her New York debut; the Fergus First Prize; the Swiss Global Artistic Foundation Award, which includes a concert engagement in Europe; and the Embassy Series Prize (Washington, DC).  She holds the Lindemann Vocal Chair of Young Concert Artists.

During the summer of 2007, Ms. Cooke was a member of the Wolf Trap Opera Company, appearing with the National Symphony Orchestra as Mercedes in a concert performance of Bizet’s Carmen, as Aloes in Chabrier’s L’Étoile, and in a recital program entitled “Manhattan Diaries” hosted by Steven Blier.  Her other notable performances include Handel's Messiah and Mozart's Vespers at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York, Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer at Miller Theater, New York Festival of Song’s “Brava Italia!” concert at Weill Hall, the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s 2007 Gala at Zankel Hall, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Mozart Academy of San Luis Obispo, and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra (TX).  In March 2007, Ms. Cooke participated in Seattle Opera’s young artist program, as Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff.  She has also appeared as the Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Endimione in Cavalli’s La Calisto at The Juilliard School, Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther and Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Rice University, and Erika in Barber’s Vanessa with Central City Opera.

Ms. Cooke won First Prizes in the 2007 Sun Valley Opera Vocal Competition and the 2006 Bach Vocal Competition sponsored by the American Bach Society and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, as well as Third Prize in the 2006 Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition.

Ms. Cooke received her Bachelor’s Degree from Rice University and her Master’s Degree from The Juilliard School.  During her time at Juilliard, she was a frequent soloist in premiere performances by the New Juilliard Ensemble.  She has also attended Music Academy of the West, the Aspen Musical Festival, Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, and Central City Opera’s Young Artist Training Program.

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