SashaCooke
Representation
About Sasha
Renowned for her versatility, dramatic magnetism and her strengths in both early and modern repertoire, Sasha enjoys an international career both on stage and as a recording artist and is the recipient of two Grammy Awards. In 2022, Sasha was appointed as Co-Director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute at Music Academy of the West.
The 2024/25 season includes a house debut at La Monnaie, Brussels in the role of Emilie Ekdahl in Mikael Karlsson's new commission Fanny and Alexander, conducted by Ariane Matiakh, as well as another major role debut as Venus in Tannhäuser at Houston Grand Opera.
On the concert scene, Sasha will debut Schoenberg's Gurrelieder with Petr Popelka and the Wiener Symphoniker. Other highlights include Mahler's Symphony no.3 with Karina Canellakis and Omroep Muziek as well as Cristian Macelaru and WDR Sinfonieorchesters Köln, Alma Mahler songs with Marin Alsop and the Philharmonia and Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dvorak's Stabat Mater with Trevor Pinnock and the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart's Requiem with the Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus Mäkelä and Mahler's Symphony no.2 with Daniel Harding and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony and Marin Alsop and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien. She will also perform in recital with Malcolm Martineau at Wigmore Hall and in a special Shostakovich programme in a tribute to Evgeny Kissin at Carnegie Hall.
Last season's highlight was her debut as Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at Opéra de Rouen, where she was described as "one of today's greatest Brangäne" (Forum Opéra). Other highlights were Mason Bates's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Laurene) for San Francisco Opera, her role debut as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for Houston Grand Opera. On the concert platform, she performed Handel Messiah in Rome with John Nelson, Berlioz Les nuits d'été with Martyn Brabbins in Mumbai, and Tristan und Isolde (Act II) with Mark Elder at the Gstaad Festival.
Representation
Season Highlights
Video
Sasha Cooke sings Chausson in Bard
Sasha Cooke sings excerpts as Genièvre in the US stage premiere of Chausson's Le Roi Arthus at Bard Summerscape. Credit: Sasha Cooke
PlayingSasha Cooke performs 'Süßer Freund' from Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben with Kirill Kuzmin
Recorded in Houston, USA. Credit: Houston Grand Opera
PlayingSasha Cooke performs 'Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld' from Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Christian Reif (conductor) Credit: New World Symphony
PlayingSasha Cooke performs 'Liber Scriptus' from Verdi's Requiem
James Gaffigan (conductor) Credit: CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra
PlayingSasha Cooke performs excerpts from Ravel's Shéhérazade
James Gaffigan (conductor) Credit: Radio Filharmonisch Orkest
Playing
Photos
Selected Repertoire
| Adams | Doctor Atomic (Kitty Oppenheimer) |
|---|---|
| Barber | Vanessa (Erika) |
| Bartok | Bluebeard's Castle (Judith) |
| Bellini | I Capuletti e i Montecchi |
| Berg | Wozzeck (Margret) |
| Berlioz | Les Troyens (Didon) • La Damnation de Faust (Marguerite) • Béatrice et Bénédict (Béatrice) |
| Bizet | Carmen (Title Role) |
| Britten | The Rape of Lucretia • Gloriana |
| Cavalli | Giasone (Medea) • La Calisto (Endimione) |
| Chabrier | L’Etoile (Aloés) |
| Chausson | Le Roi Arthus (Genièvre) |
| Debussy | Pelléas et Mélisande (Mélisande) |
| Donizetti | Anna Bolena (Jane Seymour, Smeton) • Roberto Devereux |
| Gluck | Iphigénie en Tauride (Title Role) • Orfeo |
| Handel | Orlando (Orlando, Medoro) • Rodelinda (Eduige, Bertarido) • Ariodante (Ariodante) • Alcina (Ruggiero) • Theodora (Irene) • Rinaldo (Rinaldo, Goffredo) • Radamisto (Zenobia) • Xerxes (Xerxes) • Amadigi di Gaula (Amadigi) • Teseo (Medea) |
| Humperdinck | Hansel and Gretel (Hansel, Sandman) |
| Kaminsky | As One (Hannah After) |
| Kern & Hammerstein | Showboat (Magnolia) |
| Mascagni | Cavalleria Rusticana (Lola) |
| Massenet | Werther (Charlotte) • Cendrillon (Le Prince Charmant) • Don Quichotte |
| Mozart | Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira) • Le nozze di Figaro (Cherubino) • La Clemenza di Tito (Sesto) • Così fan tutte (Dorabella) |
| Muhly | Marnie (Marnie) |
| Offenbach | Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Nicklausse) |
| Purcell | Dido and Aeneas |
| R. Strauss | Ariadne auf Naxos (The Composer) • Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian) |
| Smyth | The Wreckers (Thirza) |
| Talbot | Everest (Jan Arnold) • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Sylvie) |
| Wagner | Die Walküre (Waltraute, Fricka) • Tristan und Isolde (Brangäne) • Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (Magdalena) • Tannhäuser (Venus) |
Sample Programmes
Love Letters
Claude Debussy - Chansons de Bilitis "La flûte de Pan" "La chevelure" "Le tombeau des Naiades" Alma Mahler - Five Songs "Die stille Stadt" "Bei dir ist es traut" "Ich wandle unter Blumen" "Laue Sommernacht" "In meines Vaters Garten" Gustav Mahler - Des Knaben Wunderhorn "Rheinlegendchen" "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen" "Verlorne Müh" Interval Richard Wagner - Wesendonck Lieder "Der Engel" "Stehe still!" "Im Treibhaus – Studie zu Tristan und Isolde" "Schmerzen" "Träume – Studie zu Tristan und Isolde" Scott Ordway - Expanse of my Soul
News
Press
Tristan und Isolde (Brangäne)
Opéra de RouenJun 2024Sasha Cooke confirme qu’elle est une des plus grandes Brangäne actuelles : il suffit d’entendre la messa di voce qu’elle dépose dès le « einsam » de ses appels au deuxième acte – appels qu’elle élonge jusqu’au dernier souffle d’air que lui permet son excellente technique – pour s’en convaincre." [Translated] "Sasha Cooke confirms that she is one of today's greatest Brangäne: you only have to hear the messa di voce she delivers from the "einsam" of her calls in Act II - calls that she stretches out to the last breath of air that her excellent technique allows her - to be convinced.
- Forum Opera
- 20 June 2024
Se situant à ce même niveau d’excellence, l’américaine Sasha Cooke installe également toute sa maîtrise en Brangäne. Cette voix de mezzo-soprano aux accents mordorés, assez claire de timbre cependant, se déploie en équivalence de celle d’Isolde au 1er acte avant de livrer ensuite des appels idéalement soutenus et troublants d’expressivité. Elle retrouvera d'ailleurs le rôle cet été pour le 2ème Acte de cet opéra, au Festival de Baden-Baden auprès de Camilla Nylund et Jonas Kaufmann." [Translated] "Situated at this same level of excellence, the American Sasha Cooke also demonstrates her mastery in Brangäne. This mezzo-soprano voice with golden accents, quite clear in timbre however, unfolds in equivalence to that of Isolde in the first act before then delivering calls that are ideally sustained and disturbingly expressive. She will also return to the role this summer for the 2nd Act of this opera, at the Baden-Baden Festival with Camilla Nylund and Jonas Kaufmann .
- Olyrix
- 17 June 2024
On applaudit le mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke aux commandes d’une Brangäne suave." "We applaud the mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke at the helm of a suave Brangäne
- Anaclase
- 18 June 2024
La mezzo étasunienne Sascha Cooke est une superlative Brangäne, avec ce qu’il faut de velours dans le timbre et de souffle, pour rendre pleinement justice à son personnage." "The American mezzo Sasha Cooke is a superlative Brangäne, with just the right amount of velvet tone and breath to do full justice to her character
- Classique News
- 21 June 2024
Discography
- How Do I Find You
- Violins of Hope
- Michael Tilson Thomas: From the Diary of Anne Frank & Meditation on Rilke
- Mason Bates: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs
- Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette
- Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor 'Resurrection'
- Berlioz: L'enfance du Christ
- Liszt: The Complete Songs Volume 4 - Sasha Cooke
- If You Love for Beauty
