Sasha Cooke News

Classical music’s Hamlen-Palm Series will be presented this year as four engaging online chats called Classical Conversations. The series is set to debut Thursday, April 29, 2021, with a discussion between American composers Jake Heggie and Nico Muhly hosted by two-time Grammy Award winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke.

The Cincinnati May Festival has announced program details and artists for the 2021 Festival with five performances taking place between May 21 and 30, 2021 at Cincinnati Music Hall.  Principal Conductor Juanjo Mena will conduct two performances each of two separate programs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

New West Symphony, with Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie as Artistic and Music Director, continues its 2020-21 groundbreaking and reimagined season of “Global Sounds, Local Cultures” with A Tour of Iran.

Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's acclaimed opera Everest will be given a bold new theatrical treatment reimagined as a graphic novel opera film, a concept where the singers are integrated into an animated environment creating a one-of-a-kind operatic experience.

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, America’s longest-running festival of new orchestral music, premieres its second-ever virtual season, July 31 – August 8, 2021. Led by Grammy Award-winning Music Director and Conductor Cristian Măcelaru, the Festival’s season offers themes of resiliency, hope and realism, in response to the profound crises of climate change, wildfires, and the persistence of human oppression. 

Building on the success of the 2020 Day of Musical Action last June, Kaufman Music Center will hold a Week of Musical Action from March 14-18, 2021. More than 140 performers from the KMC community will come together during this multi-day music marathon to share music and support our programs. The event provides students, parents, faculty, staff and donors with the opportunity to raise funds to support KMC’s programs while also fostering a sense of community engagement.

Building on the success of the 2020 Day of Musical Action last June, Kaufman Music Center will hold a Week of Musical Action from March 14-18, 2021.

New West Symphony (NWS), with Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie as Artistic and Music Director, continues its 2020-21 groundbreaking and reimagined season of “Global Sounds, Local Cultures” with A Tour of China – a celebration of Chinese New Year and the Spring Lantern Festival.

​​​​​​​The American Opera Project announces the creation of the AOP Artistic Advisory Council, composed of artists and innovators from the world of opera and beyond who contribute their time and wise counsel to advance the mission of The American Opera Project. Council members offer their unique ideas and personal insight to the AOP Staff and Board of Directors, mentor creative teams in the development stage, and serve on panels selecting AOP works and artists. 

The Houston Symphony announces the addition of the Classical Series program Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, Feb. 19 & 20, at 8 p.m., featuring internationally-acclaimed, Houston-based mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer).

 CLICKCOACH – a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created and operated for the relief of classical, jazz, and musical theater artists in financial need worldwide – launches Friday, January 15, 2021. 

Houston Grand Opera presents the January installment of Live from The Cullen on January 8. Viewers will be transported to the Wortham Theater Center's Cullen Theater for a performance by talented mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke.

Houston Grand Opera presents the January installment of Live from The Cullen on January 8. Viewers will be transported to the Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater for a performance by talented mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke.

Today (December 8) in live streaming: Norm Lewis chats with the Chaos Twins, a Red Bucket Follies celebration, and so much more!

Los Angeles Opera has a number of excellent recitals on its website including one by baritone Craig Colclough in which he sings the Shakespeare monologues from Otello and Macbeth that Verdi set to music. Together with pianist Jeremy Frank, Colclough presents a program that also includes works by Beethoven, Wagner, Porter, and Vaughan Williams.

The Met has announced themed lineups for four weeks of its Nightly Met Opera Streams, a free series of encore Live in HD presentations and classic telecasts streamed on the company's website during the coronavirus closure. The schedule includes a week of In Plain English, an Epic Proportions week, followed by a week of Holiday Fare, and more.

After carefully weighing options, in accordance with recommendations from global health leaders, Houston Grand Opera has made the difficult decision to cancel the remaining mainstage productions for the 2020–21 season. The company now plans to resume live, in-person performance in the fall of 2021.

#LAOAtHOME concerts continue LIVE, featuring Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf, as they bring your (and their) favorite songs from their living room to yours.

Aptly taking its theme as innovation, MARLIa??s pioneering six-week program offered a career-building curriculum for the 21st-century musician, combining teaching and mentorship from the Academya??s outstanding faculty artists with musical, technological and entrepreneurial challenges and a diverse array of artistic and educational video content.

Pacific Opera Project (POP) presents a watch party of their critically acclaimed production of Madama Butterfly on July 15 at 5:00 PM Los Angeles time. This is the first true-to-story bilingual production of the opera. Performed in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo and Houston's Opera in the Heights, the opera now has a new libretto written by POP Artistic Director Josh Shaw and Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura.