Allison Cook

Mezzo-soprano

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“A tour de force, brilliantly sung and stunning in its psychological breadth.”
(Opera Magazine)

Blessed with an extraordinary versatility and vocal range seldom found, Allison Cook’s recent seasons have firmly established her as an exciting exponent of contemporary repertoire through the creation of a number of formidable characters. This includes the Marquise de Merteuil in Francesconi’s Quartett,whom she has played at the Teatro alla Scala, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Wiener Festwochen, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and Teatr Wielki. Other roles now firmly in her repertoire, include the Duchess of Argyll in Thomas Adès’ biopic Powder her Face, Marie in Wozzeck, Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw, with praise being universal for her tour de force performances of Schoenberg’s Erwartung andKaija Saariaho’s monodrama Émilie.

The current season sees Allison return to Covent Garden as the Prostitute in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new production of Janáček’s From the House of the Dead under Teodor Currentzis, as well as singing the Wife in Joe Hill-Gibbins’ new production of Greek at the Edinburgh International Festival, and later for Scottish Opera. Allison also debuts with the Berliner Philharmoniker in Janáček’s The Diary of One who Disappeared.

Gallery

Schoenberg: Erwartung (excerpt) © Den Nye Opera

Francesconi: Quartett (excerpt) © Casa da Musica

Kaija Saariaho: Émilie (excerpts) © Salzburger Landestheater

“Allison Cook as Eddy’s wife (and mother) especially touching in her lament for her dead husband, sung stepping over and around his corpse.”

(Bachtrack, February 2018)

“Susan Bullock and Allison Cook gave virtuoso performances in the chameleon-like soprano roles – both singers blurring the lines between humanity and caricature”

(Opera Magazine, October 2017)

“But then there was Allison Cook as Eddy’s wife and (it transpires) mother, singing with a smoky, curdled sensuality that could veer into either brutality or passion.”

(The Spectator, August 2017)

“Allison Cook as Eddy’s real mum and lover whose aria lamenting the death of her abusive husband was matchless”

(Classical Source, August 2017)

“The two soloists fully assume the requirement of writing…it is first of all the astonishing performance of Allison Cook as the Marquise that will be remembered, passing from one hallucination to another at will, with pyrotechnics as much musical as they were psychic.”

(Anaclase, March 2017)

“The Marquise de Merteuil was performed by the mezzo soprano Allison Cook; unmatchable on stage and delivering a vocal performance which proved most convincing.”

(Beckmesser, February 2017)

“Allison Cook [was] spellbinding as Miss Jessel.”

(Opera Magazine, December 2016)

“Allison Cook also gives a tour de force performance. It’s not so much that she portrays the Duchess, rather she reincarnates her. First as a playful sex-goddess, then as a fallen angel. With a final number as gripping as the best bel canto aria.”

(Koen Van Boxem, Tijd, September 2015)

“Allison Cook’s portrayal of the Duchess – a triumph in one of the New York City Opera’s last productions – remains a tour de force, brilliantly sung and stunning in its psychological breadth.”

(George Loomis, Opera Magazine, August 2015)

“Baritone Robin Adams and mezzo Allison Cook are formidable singers and actors. Cook is also the sexiest woman ever seen on an opera stage in a while, to the point that the question of how the performance of this opera could go on without her is inevitable.”

(Federico Monjeau, Clarin, June 2015)