The Performing Arts Center will present award-winning mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke (above) April 11 at 8 p.m. in Ramsey Concert Hall. Tickets are $18 and half-price for UGA students.
Cooke was awarded the university’s inaugural Performing Arts Center Prize at the 2007 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, resulting in her Athens debut engagement.
Cooke has been praised by The New York Times for “combining the outward purity of a Renaissance angel and a voice of powerful warmth and excellent musicality.” Earlier this season she appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. She also performed with the Met Chamber Ensemble and James Levine at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. This summer she will travel to Tel Aviv, Israel, for performances as Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Evgeny Onegin with the Israeli Opera.
A native of Texas, Cooke received her bachelor’s degree from Rice University and her master’s degree from the Juilliard School. During her time at Juilliard, she was a frequent soloist in premiere performances by the New Juilliard Ensemble.
The Performing Arts Center will sponsor an educational residency with Cooke in conjunction with her recital. She will travel to south Georgia for educational programs in Tifton in addition to offering programs for students at Oconee County and Winder Barrow high schools.
Cooke will be accompanied by pianist Pei-Yao Wang, a native of Taipei and the youngest pianist ever to win the Taiwan National Piano Competition.