last updated July 2008
"Scaling the full bloom of her voluptuous voice to the museum's intimate hall, Cooke opened with a suave reading of Manuel de Falla's "Seven Spanish Folksongs." A sensual "Asturiana" was matched by the maternal calm of "Nana." Cooke struck the right balance for a good song recitalist, neither emoting grotesquely nor leaving the songs' various characters undifferentiated...Fortunately, encores included glimpses of Cooke's blithe Olga in exquisite Russian as well as her sly and volatile Carmen." (National Museum of Women in the Arts Recital) -Charles T. Downey, The Washington Post
"Ms. Cooke did well everywhere. She has a strong, healthy voice, and she is a good enough musician to handle Schumann’s ornamental turns of phrase with ease and clarity." (Carnegie Series Weill Recital) -Bernard Holland, The New York Times
"Sasha Cooke's suave mezzo took on a suitably maudlin touch as the hapless bride Amadora and brought high spirits to Lucrezia's sex aria." (New York Festival of Song opera premieres of Musto & Bolcom) -George Loomis, The New York Sun
"The comic timing of the cast, directed by Leon Major in a minimal staging, was spot on and elicited plenty of chuckles. The bright-voiced mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke charmingly displayed the sultry Lucrezia’s voracious appetites, while the tenor Paul Appleby was ardent as Lorenzo, hopelessly in love with her." (NYFOS) -Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times
"Keep your eye out for Sasha Cooke, a 23-year-old mezzo who, accompanied by pianist Pei-Yao Wang, sang a thoughtful Gardner Museum concert on Sunday that included three song cycles about women. Cooke has a thrilling, dramatic voice that matches the color of her luxuriant dark red hair, and the empathetic ability to live inside these poems and articulate their variegated emotional shadings." (Boston Gardner Museum Recital) -Llyod Schwartz, The Phoenix
"Deft cameos were contributed by mezzo Sasha Cooke, as a gnarled-looking, amber-toned Sandman." (Hansel and Gretel The Metropolitan Opera) -Fred Paul Driscoll, Opera News
"Of genuine magic there was only one moment all night: the aria of the Sandman, as sung by Sasha Cooke of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artists Program: a light, clear voice, seemingly tiny but produced so that it easily filled the house and fell on each ear like fairy dust, a subtle staging that was, for once, not an intrusion but a rare visit from the atmosphere of Grimm to a corrupted world." (Hansel and Gretel The Metropolitan Opera) -John Yohalem, Opera Today
"John Harbison uses jazz and blues influences in his melancholic North and South, melding these fragrances seamlessly with Elizabeth Bishop’s colorful stanzas. With her honeyed voice and almost theatrical presence onstage, Sasha Cooke seemed an ideal interpreter. It will be hard to imagine another singer bringing the same composure." (Met Chamber Ensemble Zankel Hall) -Bruce Hodges, MusicWeb
"Mr. Harbison’s “North and South” (1999) was more accessible still, partly because his music reflected the plain-spoken quality of Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry. The two “Ballad for Billie” settings, for example, hint at the blues without quite going there, and Sasha Cooke, the mezzo-soprano, did a magnificent job of mixing blues phrasing with the refined timbre of upscale modernism." (Met Chamber Ensemble Zankel Hall) -Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke provided a moving rendition of these lovely songs, bringing out the great coloration in the vocal line. She was at her best in "Breakfast Song," which depicts the ambivalent, contradictory emotions surrounding a woman on the morning after a night of passion. Due to its more active and full instrumental accompaniment, this work is a risky presentation for Weill Hall's very bright acoustic. However, Cooke's fine vocal projection and the expertise of Levine and his players created an almost ideal balance, allowing the listener to enjoy this work to full advantage." (Met Chamber Ensemble Zankel Hall) -Arlo McKinnon, Opera News
"In addition to her utterly distinctive voice, I had a sense that Sasha had made some uncanny connection to these songs which she sang with the mature interpretive authority of a seasoned artist. Using straight tone in places brought an otherworldly quality to her singing of the haunting "Ich bin der Welt..." Later, in John Musto's cycle 'Shadow of the Blues' Sasha had just the right colours of irony and a very subtle jazzy feel." (Lindemann Recital Bruno Walter Auditorium) -Oberon's Grove
"She was pristine in her delivery of lines, hit every note in its exact center and was in control every step of the way. This campanilian voice will go far." -The New York Sun
"Sasha Cooke, a mezzo-soprano, saved Stephen Sondheim's “Take Me to the World” for the second encore of her New York recital debut on Tuesday night at Zankel Hall. But that title could easily have served as a banner for the entire concert. Over the last few years Ms. Cooke’s New York appearances in orchestral and chamber settings have consistently earned approving notices. In this program, presented by the Young Concert Artists series, she explored a wide range of mostly overlooked selections by an international cast of composers. In Samuel Barber’s “Four Songs” (Op. 13), Ms. Cooke revealed some of the qualities for which she has earned attention: a rich voice deployed with admirable control, an expressive countenance and a winning ease onstage. Her dark, liquid outpouring of piety in “A Nun Takes the Veil” was countered by the devilish wit of “The Secrets of the Old.” A subtly arched brow underscored
rapturous sentiments near the end of “Nocturne.” Personable spoken introductions prefaced performances of Poulenc’s puckish “Four Poems by Guillaume Apollinaire” and Mahler’s soulful “Five Ruckert Songs.” From the Mahler, Ms. Cooke’s performance of “At Midnight” was riveting, “I Am Lost to the World” only slightly less so. Her account of Debussy’s “Songs of Bilitis” was suffused with poetic ardor. Where Ms. Cooke’s French and German diction was admirable, her English and Russian were exemplary in selections by John Musto and Rachmaninoff. Her bluesy phrasing and subtle swing were ideal in Mr. Musto’s “Shadow of the Blues,” four settings of poems by Langston Hughes. The three Rachmaninoff songs that closed the recital program — one of which Ms. Cooke herself translated for the program notes — were richly voiced and subtly shaded. The pianist Pei-Yao Wang provided superb support throughout; her sensuous, half-lighted pastel tones in the Debussy selections and the sheer bravura she displayed in Rachmaninoff’s “Floods of Spring” (Op. 14, No. 11) were among the evening’s highlights. Two encores, William Bolcom's giddy “Amor” and the Sondheim ballad, suggested that Ms. Cooke might easily pursue a healthy sideline in musical theater. A prediction: Before long, American composers of a lyrical bent will beat a path to her door." (YCA Series Zankel Hall) -Steve Smith, The New York Times
"has the makings of a young musical star- her voice is a rich, full-bodied delight and the way she sells her song's soul by stepping into the lyrics is impressive" (Buffalo Chamber Series Recital) - The Buffalo News
"Anyone at Steven Blier's latest Wolf Trap recital this past August likely wanted to hear more from mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke...Cooke's English pronunciation and diction made the texts very clear, a strength that helped make the John Musto song cycle, Shadow of the Blues, the high point of the afternoon. Here, wisely with no introduction to the music or poetry, Cooke gave us three other songs from the cycle to go along with the extraordinary Litany on the Wolf Trap program...
"With the self-assurance and technique of a veteran, and a supple yet rich voice, Cooke stormed through 23 songs ranging in style from contemporary American jazz to Gustav Mahler's intense "Ruckertlieder." Her performance must have left many in the audience believing they had witnessed an early stage of a potentially great career." (Pittsfield Recital Colonial Theater) -John Felton, The Berkshire Eagle
"But these seemed slight next to the profound beauty of Fauré’s “Bonne chanson,” a cycle of Verlaine settings alluringly sung by the mezzo Sasha Cooke."(Bard Music Festival with the Jupiter String Quartet) -Steve Smith, The New York Times
"Sasha Cooke was Jeremiah's counterpart with her rich, voluminous mezzo-soprano. She sang "Recuerdo" with a sultry air and reveled in drama queen antics as a spurned Manhattan socialite in "Down in the Depths on the Ninetieth Floor." Playing the seductive cab driver to Jeremiah's sailor on shore leave in "Taxi Duet," she was mischievous and charming." (Wolf Trap Recital with Steve Blier 'Manhattan Diaries') -Grace Jean,The Washington Post
"Erin Morley (Laoula) and Sasha Cooke (Aloes) interacted with convincing merriment and lovely voices." (L'Etoile at Wolf Trap Opera) -Cecelia Porter, The Washington Post
"Colorful contributions to the fray also came from Sasha Cooke, revealing a big, healthy voice as Aloes." (L'Etoile) -Tim Smith, Opera News
"Sasha Cooke was an attractive Meg Page, a good vocal contrast to Lynch's Alice Ford." (Falstaff with Seattle Young Artist Program) -R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post Intelligencer
"Ms. Cooke... has a smooth, grounded mezzo." (Marilyn Horne Annual Recital) -Anne Midgette, The New York Times
"Of the soloists Sasha Cooke, a mezzo-soprano, added the most inventive and at times daring ornamentation to her arias [and] sang with an appealing clarity." (Messiah with the Oratorio Society Isaac Stern Auditorium) -Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"Two Busoni songs were standouts...Cooke in the intense and spooky "Zigeunerlied," to words by Goethe." (New York Festival of Song 'Brava Italia' at Kennedy Center) -Mark J. Estren, The Washington Post
"Things took an upturn with the entrance of the female trio who double as prophetic wild geese and the camp pets (Cooke, Fenna Ograjensek and Angela Mannino)." (Paul Bunyan at Central City Opera) -David Shengold, Opera News
"Sasha Cooke's mezzo-soprano was beautifully focused, leaving a listener wishing Mendelssohn had given her more to do." (Paulus at St. Ignatius Loyola) -Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"The vocal standout of the first half was Sasha Cooke with "Non so più." (Licia Albanse-Puccini Foundation Gala Alice Tully Hall)
-Brian Kellow, Opera News
"It was sung by Sasha Cooke, a Juilliard student well suited to the range of the evening in general, combining as she did the outward purity of a Renaissance angel and a voice of powerful sensual warmth and excellent musicality." (Dallapicolla Retrospective Miller Theater) -Anne Midgette, The New York Times
"Ms. Cooke did well everywhere. She has a strong, healthy voice, and she is a good enough musician to handle Schumann’s ornamental turns of phrase with ease and clarity." (Carnegie Series Weill Recital) -Bernard Holland, The New York Times
"Sasha Cooke's suave mezzo took on a suitably maudlin touch as the hapless bride Amadora and brought high spirits to Lucrezia's sex aria." (New York Festival of Song opera premieres of Musto & Bolcom) -George Loomis, The New York Sun
"The comic timing of the cast, directed by Leon Major in a minimal staging, was spot on and elicited plenty of chuckles. The bright-voiced mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke charmingly displayed the sultry Lucrezia’s voracious appetites, while the tenor Paul Appleby was ardent as Lorenzo, hopelessly in love with her." (NYFOS) -Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times
"Keep your eye out for Sasha Cooke, a 23-year-old mezzo who, accompanied by pianist Pei-Yao Wang, sang a thoughtful Gardner Museum concert on Sunday that included three song cycles about women. Cooke has a thrilling, dramatic voice that matches the color of her luxuriant dark red hair, and the empathetic ability to live inside these poems and articulate their variegated emotional shadings." (Boston Gardner Museum Recital) -Llyod Schwartz, The Phoenix
"Deft cameos were contributed by mezzo Sasha Cooke, as a gnarled-looking, amber-toned Sandman." (Hansel and Gretel The Metropolitan Opera) -Fred Paul Driscoll, Opera News
"Of genuine magic there was only one moment all night: the aria of the Sandman, as sung by Sasha Cooke of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artists Program: a light, clear voice, seemingly tiny but produced so that it easily filled the house and fell on each ear like fairy dust, a subtle staging that was, for once, not an intrusion but a rare visit from the atmosphere of Grimm to a corrupted world." (Hansel and Gretel The Metropolitan Opera) -John Yohalem, Opera Today
"John Harbison uses jazz and blues influences in his melancholic North and South, melding these fragrances seamlessly with Elizabeth Bishop’s colorful stanzas. With her honeyed voice and almost theatrical presence onstage, Sasha Cooke seemed an ideal interpreter. It will be hard to imagine another singer bringing the same composure." (Met Chamber Ensemble Zankel Hall) -Bruce Hodges, MusicWeb
"Mr. Harbison’s “North and South” (1999) was more accessible still, partly because his music reflected the plain-spoken quality of Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry. The two “Ballad for Billie” settings, for example, hint at the blues without quite going there, and Sasha Cooke, the mezzo-soprano, did a magnificent job of mixing blues phrasing with the refined timbre of upscale modernism." (Met Chamber Ensemble Zankel Hall) -Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke provided a moving rendition of these lovely songs, bringing out the great coloration in the vocal line. She was at her best in "Breakfast Song," which depicts the ambivalent, contradictory emotions surrounding a woman on the morning after a night of passion. Due to its more active and full instrumental accompaniment, this work is a risky presentation for Weill Hall's very bright acoustic. However, Cooke's fine vocal projection and the expertise of Levine and his players created an almost ideal balance, allowing the listener to enjoy this work to full advantage." (Met Chamber Ensemble Zankel Hall) -Arlo McKinnon, Opera News
"In addition to her utterly distinctive voice, I had a sense that Sasha had made some uncanny connection to these songs which she sang with the mature interpretive authority of a seasoned artist. Using straight tone in places brought an otherworldly quality to her singing of the haunting "Ich bin der Welt..." Later, in John Musto's cycle 'Shadow of the Blues' Sasha had just the right colours of irony and a very subtle jazzy feel." (Lindemann Recital Bruno Walter Auditorium) -Oberon's Grove
"She was pristine in her delivery of lines, hit every note in its exact center and was in control every step of the way. This campanilian voice will go far." -The New York Sun
"Sasha Cooke, a mezzo-soprano, saved Stephen Sondheim's “Take Me to the World” for the second encore of her New York recital debut on Tuesday night at Zankel Hall. But that title could easily have served as a banner for the entire concert. Over the last few years Ms. Cooke’s New York appearances in orchestral and chamber settings have consistently earned approving notices. In this program, presented by the Young Concert Artists series, she explored a wide range of mostly overlooked selections by an international cast of composers. In Samuel Barber’s “Four Songs” (Op. 13), Ms. Cooke revealed some of the qualities for which she has earned attention: a rich voice deployed with admirable control, an expressive countenance and a winning ease onstage. Her dark, liquid outpouring of piety in “A Nun Takes the Veil” was countered by the devilish wit of “The Secrets of the Old.” A subtly arched brow underscored
rapturous sentiments near the end of “Nocturne.” Personable spoken introductions prefaced performances of Poulenc’s puckish “Four Poems by Guillaume Apollinaire” and Mahler’s soulful “Five Ruckert Songs.” From the Mahler, Ms. Cooke’s performance of “At Midnight” was riveting, “I Am Lost to the World” only slightly less so. Her account of Debussy’s “Songs of Bilitis” was suffused with poetic ardor. Where Ms. Cooke’s French and German diction was admirable, her English and Russian were exemplary in selections by John Musto and Rachmaninoff. Her bluesy phrasing and subtle swing were ideal in Mr. Musto’s “Shadow of the Blues,” four settings of poems by Langston Hughes. The three Rachmaninoff songs that closed the recital program — one of which Ms. Cooke herself translated for the program notes — were richly voiced and subtly shaded. The pianist Pei-Yao Wang provided superb support throughout; her sensuous, half-lighted pastel tones in the Debussy selections and the sheer bravura she displayed in Rachmaninoff’s “Floods of Spring” (Op. 14, No. 11) were among the evening’s highlights. Two encores, William Bolcom's giddy “Amor” and the Sondheim ballad, suggested that Ms. Cooke might easily pursue a healthy sideline in musical theater. A prediction: Before long, American composers of a lyrical bent will beat a path to her door." (YCA Series Zankel Hall) -Steve Smith, The New York Times"has the makings of a young musical star- her voice is a rich, full-bodied delight and the way she sells her song's soul by stepping into the lyrics is impressive" (Buffalo Chamber Series Recital) - The Buffalo News
"Anyone at Steven Blier's latest Wolf Trap recital this past August likely wanted to hear more from mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke...Cooke's English pronunciation and diction made the texts very clear, a strength that helped make the John Musto song cycle, Shadow of the Blues, the high point of the afternoon. Here, wisely with no introduction to the music or poetry, Cooke gave us three other songs from the cycle to go along with the extraordinary Litany on the Wolf Trap program...
"With the self-assurance and technique of a veteran, and a supple yet rich voice, Cooke stormed through 23 songs ranging in style from contemporary American jazz to Gustav Mahler's intense "Ruckertlieder." Her performance must have left many in the audience believing they had witnessed an early stage of a potentially great career." (Pittsfield Recital Colonial Theater) -John Felton, The Berkshire Eagle"But these seemed slight next to the profound beauty of Fauré’s “Bonne chanson,” a cycle of Verlaine settings alluringly sung by the mezzo Sasha Cooke."(Bard Music Festival with the Jupiter String Quartet) -Steve Smith, The New York Times
"Sasha Cooke was Jeremiah's counterpart with her rich, voluminous mezzo-soprano. She sang "Recuerdo" with a sultry air and reveled in drama queen antics as a spurned Manhattan socialite in "Down in the Depths on the Ninetieth Floor." Playing the seductive cab driver to Jeremiah's sailor on shore leave in "Taxi Duet," she was mischievous and charming." (Wolf Trap Recital with Steve Blier 'Manhattan Diaries') -Grace Jean,The Washington Post
"Erin Morley (Laoula) and Sasha Cooke (Aloes) interacted with convincing merriment and lovely voices." (L'Etoile at Wolf Trap Opera) -Cecelia Porter, The Washington Post
"Colorful contributions to the fray also came from Sasha Cooke, revealing a big, healthy voice as Aloes." (L'Etoile) -Tim Smith, Opera News
"Sasha Cooke was an attractive Meg Page, a good vocal contrast to Lynch's Alice Ford." (Falstaff with Seattle Young Artist Program) -R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post Intelligencer
"Ms. Cooke... has a smooth, grounded mezzo." (Marilyn Horne Annual Recital) -Anne Midgette, The New York Times
"Of the soloists Sasha Cooke, a mezzo-soprano, added the most inventive and at times daring ornamentation to her arias [and] sang with an appealing clarity." (Messiah with the Oratorio Society Isaac Stern Auditorium) -Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"Two Busoni songs were standouts...Cooke in the intense and spooky "Zigeunerlied," to words by Goethe." (New York Festival of Song 'Brava Italia' at Kennedy Center) -Mark J. Estren, The Washington Post
"Things took an upturn with the entrance of the female trio who double as prophetic wild geese and the camp pets (Cooke, Fenna Ograjensek and Angela Mannino)." (Paul Bunyan at Central City Opera) -David Shengold, Opera News
"Sasha Cooke's mezzo-soprano was beautifully focused, leaving a listener wishing Mendelssohn had given her more to do." (Paulus at St. Ignatius Loyola) -Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"The vocal standout of the first half was Sasha Cooke with "Non so più." (Licia Albanse-Puccini Foundation Gala Alice Tully Hall)
-Brian Kellow, Opera News
"It was sung by Sasha Cooke, a Juilliard student well suited to the range of the evening in general, combining as she did the outward purity of a Renaissance angel and a voice of powerful sensual warmth and excellent musicality." (Dallapicolla Retrospective Miller Theater) -Anne Midgette, The New York Times
"this little-known gem particularly benefited from the superb singing of mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke" (Dallapiccolla Retrospective Miller Theater) -Barry O'Neal, New Music Connoisseur
"Whereas Ophelia has traditionally been portrayed by a high soprano, Beeson avoided this cliché through casting Shakespeare's heroine as a mezzo-soprano, allowing the role to be brought to life and sung beautifully by Sasha Cooke. An elegantly demonstrative and engaging performer, Cooke gave great attention to her role, displaying her enjoyment without venturing into the realm of the ostentatious or affected." -Amanda von Goetz, Classical New Jersey Society
"Nothing else on the program was quite that simple or direct, although Robert Erickson's "Two Songs" (1986), which Sasha Cooke, a mezzo-soprano, sang ravishingly, kept conventional tonality well within its sights." (Continuum Miller Theater)
-Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
