The American mezzo-soprano, a two-time Grammy Award winner, returned to San Francisco Opera last season as Hansel/Hansel and Gretel. She also recently undertook a residency with the San Francisco Symphony; appeared in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center; and premiered the new Jake Heggie/Gene Scheer work Violins of Hope with violinist Daniel Hope for Music at Kohl Mansion in California. Cooke has performed with opera companies worldwide, from the Met, Houston Grand Opera, and LA Opera to Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, London’s English National Opera, and the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. Her career has included engagements with more than 60 orchestras, among them the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Central to her career have been world premieres by Mark Adamo, Mason Bates, William Bolcom, Pierre Jalbert, Laura Kaminsky, Lowell Liebermann, Nico Muhly, John Musto, Marc Neikrug, Kevin Puts, Augusta Read Thomas, and Joby Talbot. Cooke’s discography includes releases on eight labels, most recently Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra) and Mason Bates’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (2019 Grammy for Best Opera Recording).
