Deborah Cook (soprano)
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Deborah Cook (born July 6, 1938, Philadelphia) is an operatic soprano who has performed internationally in operas such as Ariadne auf Naxos, Dinorah, and L'étoile du nord.
[edit] Career
Deborah made her operatic debut at the Glyndeborne Opera in 1972 portraying Zerbinetta and later made her Royal Opera House Covent Garden debut in 1976 as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. Cook lived in Germany from 1972 through 1984 and, during that time, traveled extensively throughout Europe, concertizing and performing opera, lieder, and recording for radio productions.
Cook's operatic repertoire includes: Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos; Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor; Constanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte; Leila in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles; Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto; Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore; Fiakermilli in Strauss' Arabella; Guilietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi; Olympia in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann; and Despina in Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte.
Cook has also sung for the premieres of such roles as: Rachel in Henze's We Come to the River, which debuted at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London; Angel of Bright Future in George's The Confidence Man, which debuted at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico; and The Soprano in Ruppert's ...die Siebte, which debuted at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany.
Cook has held concerts with orchestras including: the Philadelphia Orchestra; the San Francisco Symphony; the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Orchestre de Paris; Hong Kong Philharmonic; the Dresden Philharmonic; Australian Broadcasting Orchestra - Sydney; Melbourne and Adelaide; and the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig,
She has sung under the batons of conductors including Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Atherton, Nello Santi, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Georg Solti, Charles Mackerras, Sir Charles Groves, Hans Vonk, and Jesus Lopez-Cobos.
Deborah Cook taught voice in the United States at Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College and at Westtown School, as well as teaching in London and in Germany. She has sung as a Cantor in several synagogues in Philadelphia, New York and Maine. In October of 2004, Deborah Cook sang at the University of Orono in the world premiere of a work by Ben Haim. She traveled to Leipzig, Germany, in November of 2005 to hold master classes in lieder. The soprano resides with her husband, pianist Ronald Marlowe, in Liberty, Maine, where she teaches privately and concertizes.
[edit] Recordings
Deborah Cook has recorded the title role in Meyerbeer's Dinorah with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Opera Rara, London; Prascovia in Meyerbeer's L'étoile du nord, Opera Rara, London; and as the Naiad in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Sir Georg Solti with the London Symphony Orchestra, London.
