Sasha Cooke (born 1982/1983 [1] ) is an American mezzo-soprano. [2]
Cooke was born in Riverside, California, and grew up in College Station, Texas, where her parents are professors of Russian at Texas A&M University. [3] She earned a bachelor's degree from Rice University and trained at the Juilliard School in New York. [4] [5] Cooke attended the Music Academy of the West in 2002. [6]
Cooke won best opera recording for Doctor Atomic at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, 2011, and again for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, 2018. [7]
In 2022, she played Thirza in Houston Grand Opera's staging of The Wreckers by Ethel Smyth. [8] [9]
Marilyn Berneice Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors, and has won four Grammy Awards.
Teresa Berganza VargasOAXS was a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with roles such as Rossini's Rosina and La Cenerentola, and later Bizet's Carmen, admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence, and beguiling stage presence.
Grace Melzia Bumbry was an American opera singer, considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, who also ventured to soprano roles. She belonged to a pioneering generation of African-American classical singers, led by Marian Anderson. She was recognized internationally when Wieland Wagner cast her for the 1961 Bayreuth Festival as Venus in Tannhäuser, the first black singer to appear at the festival.
Jake Heggie is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music. He is best known for his operas and art songs as well as for his collaborations with internationally renowned performers and writers.
Doctor Atomic is an opera by the contemporary American composer John Adams, with a libretto by Peter Sellars. It premiered at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. The work focuses on how leading figures at Los Alamos dealt with the great stress and anxiety of preparing for the test of the first atomic bomb.
Ana María Martínez is a Puerto Rican soprano.
Jennifer Larmore is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer, particularly noted for her performances in coloratura and bel canto roles which she has performed in the world's major opera houses. She has been a professor at the Music College of Seoul National University since March 2021.
Joyce DiDonato is an American opera singer and recitalist. A coloratura mezzo-soprano, she has performed operas and concert works spanning from the 19th-century Romantic era to those by Handel and Mozart.
Michelle DeYoung is an American classical vocalist who has an active international career performing in operas and concerts.
Khorshed Dastoor, better known as Khori Dastoor, is an American arts executive. She is the General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera (2021–present) and the former General Director of Opera San José (2019-2021).
Edna Garabedian is an American operatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher, and opera director.
Barbara Smith Conrad was an American opera singer. A mezzo-soprano, she performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Nacional in Venezuela, and many others. She was also an educator, co-directing the Wagner Theater Program, which she co-founded, and maintaining a private studio as well as taking up multiple artist residencies.
David T. Little is a Grammy-nominated American composer, record producer, and drummer known for his operatic, orchestral, and chamber works, most notably his operas JFK,Soldier Songs, and Dog Days which was named a standout opera of recent decades by The New York Times. He is the artistic director of Newspeak, an eight-piece amplified ensemble that explores the boundaries between rock and classical music, and is the Chair of the composition faculty at Mannes School of Music.
Edyth Walker was an American opera singer who had an active international career from the 1890s through the 1910s. She began her career performing roles from the mezzo-soprano repertory, but later successfully added several soprano parts to her repertoire as well. She performed in Italian and French language operas, but had a clear affinity for works in the German language. She particularly excelled in the operas of Richard Wagner. After retiring from the stage, she was active as a voice teacher in both France and the United States. Her voice is preserved on several gramophone recordings, made mainly for His Master's Voice, between 1902 and 1908.
Latonia Moore is an American three-time Grammy Award-winning soprano known for her performances in the title roles of Aida and Madama Butterfly, as well as her work in Terence Blanchard's operas.
Ailyn Pérez is an American operatic soprano known for her interpretation of Violetta, Mimì and Thaïs. She is a 2019 Opera News Awards Honoree, and the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award. In 2016, she received the $50,000 Beverly Sills Award and the 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization.
Pentatone is an international classical music label located in Baarn, Netherlands.
Missy Mazzoli is an American composer and pianist who is a member of the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music. In 2018, she became one of the first two women to receive a commission from the Metropolitan Opera House. She is the founder and keyboardist for Victoire, an electro-acoustic band. From 2012-2015 she was composer-in-residence at Opera Philadelphia, in collaboration with Gotham Chamber Opera and Music-Theater Group. Her music is published by G. Schirmer. Mazzoli received a 2015 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, a Fulbright Grant to the Netherlands, and in 2018 was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Classical Composition. In 2018, Mazzoli was named for a two-season term as the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mazzoli was named the Bragg Artist-in-Residence at Mount Allison University in Canada beginning in 2022.
Jamie Barton is an American mezzo-soprano. She won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition in June 2013. She is also the winner of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award.
J’Nai Bridges is a two time Grammy-Award winning American mezzo-soprano. She is a winner of the Marian Anderson Award and has performed for the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, and San Francisco Opera. BET has described her as The Beyoncé of opera.