Two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been praised for her “agile, glamorous presence” by Opéra Magazine and as a “luminous standout” by the New York Times. Ms. Cooke has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Seattle Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others, and with over a hundred chamber and symphony orchestras worldwide frequently in the works of Mahler. In 2022 Ms. Cooke was appointed at the Music Academy of the West as Co-Director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute.

In the 2026-2027 season, Ms. Cooke appears with many of the world’s leading orchestras in a wide-ranging concert season that includes Elgar’s Sea Pictures with Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Dinis Souza, Ravel’s Shéhérazade with Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Sun Valley Music Festival, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with Orchestre National de France conducted by Trevor Pinnock, a world premiere by Bernard Foccroulle with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathon Heyward, and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 with Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä. She also appears with Opera Parallèle in the West Coast premiere of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as Sylvie, a role she originated at The Dallas Opera. As one of today’s foremost interpreters of Mahler’s music, Ms. Cooke’s season includes performances of Das klagende Lied at Musikverein with Tonkünstler-Orchester, Symphony no. 8 with Hong Kong Philharmonic conducted by Tarmo Peltokoski, and Das Lied von der Erde with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. She joins guitarist Jason Vieaux in Songs of the Americas, in songs from Enrique Granados to Stephen Sondheim. Sasha Cooke joins San Francisco Symphony celebrating the life and legacy of Michael Tilson Thomas.

Recent seasons included a series of major role debuts, including Carmen with Seattle Opera, Venus in Tannhäuser and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Houston Grand Opera, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at Opéra de Rouen and the Gstaad Festival, Emilie Ekdahl in the world premiere of Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek’s Fanny and Alexander at La Monnaie. She returned to prominent houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Seattle Opera, while appearing in world premieres by Joby Talbot, Jasmine Barnes, Scott Ordway, Alex Turley, and others. A celebrated interpreter of Mahler, Cooke performed Das Lied von der Erde, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 with leading orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, San Francisco Symphony, Wiener Symphoniker, and Concertgebouw Orchestra under conductors such as Yannick Nézet- Séguin, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Antonio Pappano, Daniel Harding, Sir Mark Elder and Klaus Mäkelä. Additional highlights included appearances at Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall, a national recital tour of her American-themed program Of Thee I Sing, and the continued success of her Grammy-nominated PENTATONE recording how do I find you, showcasing contemporary song cycles written during the pandemic.

how do I find you, a collection of words and music created in 2020 and released on Pentatone records, is intended as a tribute to both the struggles and hopes of artists that have been wrought by the pandemic. The album can be listened to on all streaming platforms.

As a dedicated recitalist, Ms. Cooke was presented by Young Concert Artists in her widely acclaimed New York and Washington debuts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center. She has also appeared in recital at Alice Tully Hall, The Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center and the 92nd St Y. Her recordings can be found on the Hyperion, BIS, Chandos, Pentatone, Naxos, Bridge Records, Yarlung, GPR Records and Sono Luminus labels. Most recently she appears on recordings including Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer on Pentatone, Michael Tilson Thomas’ Meditations on Rilke with the San Francisco Symphony with won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium, L’enfance du Christ with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony on Chandos, Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs on Pentatone which won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra on BIS and Sasha Cooke LIVE a collection of her performances from the Music@Menlo chamber music festival released on their label.

A graduate of Rice University and The Juilliard School, Sasha Cooke also attended the Music Academy of the West, the Aspen Music Festival, the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute, the Wolf Trap Foundation, the Marlboro Music Festival, the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and Seattle Opera and Central City Opera’s Young Artist Training Programs. Ms. Cooke has given masterclasses throughout the United States, Taiwan, Australia and Canada. She resides in Bloomington, IN with daughters Evelyn and Julia and husband baritone Kelly Markgraf, Associate Professor of Voice at the Jacobs School at Indiana University.