Sasha Cooke News

Houston Grand Opera will present four pinnacles of the operatic repertoire during the company's 2016-17 season, which also features the highly anticipated world premiere of It's a Wonderful Life by composer Jake Heggie with libretto by Gene Scheer, and much-loved comedies by Donizetti and Mozart. Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers will lead Gotterdammerung, the final installment of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, featuring a new generation of leading Wagnerians includingSimon O'Neill as Siegfried and Christine Goerke as Brunnhilde. HGO will bring back its popular production of Gounod's Faust, with the HGO debut of international star tenor Michael Fabiano in the title role partnered by Houston favorite Ana Maria Martinez as Marguerite, along with the role debut of prominent bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni as Mephistopheles. The company will celebrate the 30thanniversary of HGO's world premiere of John Adams's pivotal Nixon in China by presenting James Robinson's production, of which HGO is a co-producer, with HGO Studio alumnus Scott Hendricks as Richard Nixon and soprano Andriana Chuchman as his wife, Pat. Patrick Summers will conduct Verdi'sthrilling Requiem, which critics at the time termed "an opera in ecclesiastical robes," with soloists Angela Meade, soprano, in her HGO debut; Sasha Cooke, alto; Alexey Dolgov, tenor; and Peixin Chen, bass; and the HGO Orchestra and Chorus. HGO's 62nd season will open with a whimsical production of Donizetti's buoyant The Elixir of Love, featuring tenor Dimitri Pittas as Nemorino and HGO Studio alumna Nicole Heaston as Adina and led by the eminent English conductor Jane Glover, HGO's 2016-17 Lynn Wyatt Great Artist, in her first HGO appearance. Mozart's zany yet deeply emotive comedy TheAbduction from the Seraglio-featuring Russian coloratura soprano and HGO Studio alumna Albina Shagimuratova as Konstanze and leading American tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Belmonte in HGO's inventive 2002 co-production-will close the main-stage season.  

Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, one of the world's major music festivals and a beloved summer New York tradition, opens its milestone 50th anniversary season with a series of events, including concerts featuring some of the world's greatest artists.

Lincoln Center and Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss announced today the 50th Mostly Mozart Festival, one of the world's major music festivals and a beloved summer New York tradition, with events taking place across Lincoln Center July 22-August 27, 2016.

San Francisco Opera's partnership with the Bay Area's Classical KDFC continues with a fall season of opera radio broadcasts beginning August 7 with the star-studded, June 16, 2016 gala concert celebrating San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley. The Company's highly acclaimed 2016 Summer Season productions of Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's Don Carlo and Jana?ek's Jen?fa, along with a special 1982 'From the Archives' broadcast of Handel's Julius Caesar, will air each month through December 4. All performances were recorded live at the War Memorial Opera House and feature the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Chorus.

Carnegie Hall's 2016-2017 season is fast approaching, and the venue is looking forward to exciting new projects and outstanding concerts.

Lincoln Center announces an artist update for the 50th season's opening program on July 25 and 26. Due to pregnancy, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has withdrawn from these performances and will be replaced by Daniela Mack, who makes her New York and Mostly Mozart Festival debuts.

San Francisco Opera announces the winner of the inaugural 'Emerging Star of the Year' competition. Lucas Meachem, the American baritone who performed the role of Figaro inThe Barber of Seville (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in Fall 2015, was named '2016 Emerging Star of the Year' based on a popular vote conducted online and through social media.

The New York Philharmonic has announced updates to its 175th anniversary season in 2016-17.

Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, one of the world's major music festivals and a beloved summer New York tradition, opens its milestone 50th anniversary season with a series of events, including concerts featuring some of the world's greatest artists.

On Thursday, June 16, the San Francisco Opera honored Company General Director David Gockley with a gala evening and concert titled Celebrating David! Many of the leading artists from the world of opera gathered to honor one of the great careers in the modern history of the art form. Gockley, who in 2014 announced that he would retire from his position as General Director at the completion of the 2015­­-16 Season on July 31, has led a storied career of more than 40 years as an opera impresario.

?San Francisco Opera today announced that it has amended the list of international singers performing at the David Gockley Gala Concert on Thursday, June 16 to now include Sasha Cooke in lieu of Susan Graham, who has withdrawn due to illness. Cooke will sing in the Act III trio “Hab' mir's gelobt” from Der Rosenkavalier and Didon's aria “Ah! Je vais mourir…adieu, fière cité” from Les Troyens.

Although the solstice doesn't officially appear for another week or so, the summer opera clock is already ticking. There's a plethora of performances going on all over New York City, in addition to interesting, entertaining and fascinating productions that are just a hop, skip and jump away. Among them: Lincoln Center's Lincoln Center Festival and Mostly Mozart and On Site Opera's West Village venue, to the more bucolic realms of Bard SummerScape in Dutchess County (NY) for Mascagni and Caramoor in Katonah (NY) for Rossini and Beethoven.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), one of the nation's premier orchestras as well as a leader in presenting wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissions, announces its 2016-17 season, its final under the leadership of esteemed Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, who steps down at the end of the season, concluding an unprecedented and extraordinary 20-year tenure at the Orchestra's artistic helm, the longest in LACO history. The sweeping and deeply personal season commemorates Kahane's remarkable legacy, spotlights his exceptional rapport with the Orchestra and features some of the world's leading musicians.

Earth Day has come and gone in 2016, but symphonic orchestra audiences in New York have lots to remember from this year's celebration, with performances of Mahler's DAS LIED VON DER ERDE (SONG OF THE EARTH). In less than a week, we had two different versions of the piece, with differing pluses and minuses: First, the San Francisco Symphony, under its music director, Michael Tilson Thomas performed the work at Carnegie Hall, then Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic had the home court advantage at Lincoln Center's Geffen Hall.

The San Francisco Symphony returns to Carnegie Hall with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas for two concerts on Wednesday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m. and Thursday, April 14 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. For the first performance, Mr. Tilson Thomas - widely considered the world's premier interpreter of the works of Aaron Copland - conducts music by the American master, including his Orchestral Variations and Inscape. The dynamic pianist Inon Barnatan joins the orchestra for a performance of Copland's Piano Concerto. The program concludes with Schumann's Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61. This season, Mr. Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony are performing and recording the complete Schumann symphonies for future release on SFS Media.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced that soprano Janai Brugger is the 2016 winner of the Marian Anderson Vocal Award. The Award, which honors trailblazing contralto Marian Anderson's personal and humanitarian achievements, celebrates excellence in performance by recognizing a young American singer who has achieved initial professional success in the vocal arts and who exhibits promise for a significant career. In addition to receiving a $10,000 cash prize, Ms. Brugger will perform a recital on Thursday, September 8, 2016 in the Kennedy Center Family Theater and will establish an educational residency at the opera workshop program of Washington's Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Lincoln Center and Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss announced today the 50th Mostly Mozart Festival, one of the world's major music festivals and a beloved summer New York tradition, with events taking place across Lincoln Center July 22-August 27, 2016.

Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) today announce their 2016-17 season.

  On Sunday, March 13, at 2:00 p.m., Harry Bicket conducts Handel's Orlando at Carnegie Hall with acclaimed baroque orchestra The English Concert. In this concert presentation of Handel's opera seria of love, war, and madness, countertenor Iestyn Davies performs the title role joined by sopranos Erin Morley (Angelica) and Carolyn Sampson (Dorinda), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Medoro), and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen (Zoroastro). Benjamin Sosland of The Juilliard School leads a pre-concert talk at 1:00 p.m.

Brevard, NC and Aspen, Colo.—Lady Gaga won't be the only one in the musical spotlight at Super Bowl 50. This Sunday, Brevard Music Center and Aspen Music Festival -- two of the country's most prestigious music institutions and summer festivals -- are putting their batons down, and fists up, to defend the honor of their respective football teams, the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos.