
Sasha Cooke
Sasha Cooke
Two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been called a “luminous standout” by the New York Times and “equal parts poise, radiance and elegant directness” by Opera News. 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 90 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. Her album how do I find you was nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Solo Album.
Ms. Cooke began the 2024/25 season with a return to the Bard Festival as Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust followed by Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at the Gstaad Festival, conducted by Sir Mark Elder. On the operatic stage, she debuts at La Monnaie de Munt as Emilie Ekdahl in the world premiere of Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek’s Fanny and Alexander and returns to Houston Grand Opera in her role debut as Venus in a new production of Tannhäuser. On the concert stage, Ms. Cooke reprises much of her most celebrated repertoire, singing Mahler’s Second Symphony with Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Daniel Harding, San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen in his final performances as music director, and Vienna Radio Symphony and Marin Alsop at the Wiener Konzerthaus. She sings Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Karina Canellakis, the Cologne Philharmonic and Cristian Macelaru, and the Tuscon Symphony Orchestra, where she also performs the Rückert-Lieder. She joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel for a program of Alma Mahler, which she also brings to Royal Festival Hall in London with the London Philharmonia and Marin Alsop. Other concert engagements include Mozart’s Requiem with the Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus Mäkelä, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Schönberg’s Gurrelieder with the Vienna Symphoniker, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with St. Louis Symphony and Gemma New, and a concert with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra featuring Des Knaben Wunderhorn with her husband, baritone Kelly Markgraf. In recital, Ms. Cooke returns to Wigmore Hall for a recital with pianist Malcolm Martineau, and Carnegie Hall for Shostakovitch’s From Jewish Folk Poetry with Susanna Phillips, Brandon Jovanovich, and pianist Evgeny Kissin. More info can be found at sashacooke.com

Thomas E. Bauer
Thomas E. Bauer
Critics and audiences around the world agree: Thomas E. Bauer is one of the most fascinating vocal artists of our time. Reviewers of his numerous orchestral concerts rave about the “sheer virile force” that comes with “an unusually precise diction, emotional intensity and rare beauty in his baritonal sound” (Opernglas).
As a concert vocalist, Mr. Bauer made recent guest appearances at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Vienna Musikverein, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, at Beethovenfest Bonn, singing Beethoven’s cycle An die ferne Geliebte, with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Musik Podium Festival in Stuttgart in Mendelssohn’s Paulus, with Chorwerk Ruhr, Ensemble Pygmalion, and Anima Eterna, with Capella Cracoviensis at the Brühl Haydn Festival, at Mozartfest Augsburg and with the Warsaw Philharmonic, singing Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and at the Rheingau Musik Festival, singing Bach’s B minor Mass. The Palais des Beaux-Arts BOZAR in Brussels featured Thomas E. Bauer as Artist-in-Residence for a series of concerts.
Mr. Bauer has appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink, Concentus Musicus under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Filarmonica della Scala under Zubin Mehta, Leipzig Gewandhaus under Herbert Blomstedt, Riccardo Chailly and Philippe Herreweghe, the National Symphony in Washington, DC, and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. He has collaborated with Sir Roger Norrington, Iván Fischer, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, among other eminent conductors. Under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher, he appeared in Schubert’s Lazarus at the Salzburg Festival as well as in Schoenberg’s Jakobsleiter at the Berlin Philharmonie, and sang the world première of Jörg Widmann’s oratorio ARCHE conducted by Kent Nagano for the inauguration of Hamburg’s spectacular new Elbphilharmonie (released in 2018 on ECM).
Thomas E. Bauer also enjoys considerable success in the Lied genre: He performs frequently with fortepiano specialist Jos van Immerseel. He has sung several world premières of operas and was awarded the prestigious Schneider-Schott Music Prize. He also collaborated closely with the renowned Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, who wrote a number of works specifically for Thomas Bauer’s voice.
Thomas E. Bauer’s CD productions have received a number of prestigious awards. His latest award-winning releases include Jörg Widmann’s ARCHE (Nagano/Hamburg Philharmonic, on ECM, 2018) and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Otto/Mainz Bach Orchestra, on Naxos, 2018). He also recorded Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge with Philippe Herreweghe conducting Collegium Vocale Gent and Orchestre des Champs-Élysées (Outhere Music 2022).
Thomas E. Bauer received his earliest musical training as a member of the legendary Regensburg Domspatzen (Cathedral Choir) and went to study voice at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich. Thomas is also the initiator of the award-winning Konzerthaus project in the Bavarian Forest village of Blaibach, which opened in 2014 and has won international attention for its outstanding architecture and the stunning quality of concerts held in this remote region of Bavaria.

Anne Sofie von Otter
Anne Sofie von Otter
Boasting an unrivalled and multi award-winning discography, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter’s versatility has seen her work with legendary artists ranging from the late greats of Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado and Giuseppe Sinopoli to Elvis Costello, Brad Mehldau and Rufus Wainwright.
An ever-evolving repertoire has played a key role in sustaining Swedish-born von Otter’s international profile, from an early position as the superlative Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) of her generation, giving performances around the world, to her acclaimed creation of Leonora in the world premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel at Salzburger Festspiele and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Recent highlights include Madame de Croissy (Dialogues des Carmélites) at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro) in Christof Loy’s production at Bayerische Staatsoper, L’Opinion Publique (Orphée aux Enfers) at Salzburger Festspiele in Barrie Kosky’s staging, Mérope (Oedipe) at Opéra National de Paris, and the leading role of Charlotte Andergast in the world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s Höstsonaten for Finnish National Opera. Adding further to an impressive catalogue, recent seasons have seen role debuts as the Countess (Pique Dame) at La Monnaie under Nathalie Stutzmann, Adelaide (Arabella) at Teatro Real under David Afkham and, last season, she brought to life the role of Gaby in the world premiere of Mikael Karlsson’s Melancholia at Royal Swedish Opera.
Equally recognised as a concert and recital singer of exceptional gifts, von Otter’s career has taken her around the globe as a regular presence on the world’s most important stages, excelling in a diverse repertoire including works by Mahler, Berlioz, Bach and Kurt Weill, and her expansive Lieder recordings range from classics by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and Mahler, through lesser-known compilations from Cécile Chaminade, Korngold, Peterson-Bergen and Stenhammar.
Anne Sofie von Otter’s 2024/25 season opens with performances of Mikael Karlsson’s song cycle, And so we will vanish with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, both conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. She creates the role of Justine in Karlsson’s Fanny and Alexander which sees its world premiere at La Monnaie in a staging by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Ariane Matiakh, appears in the world premiere of Philippe Manoury’s new work Die letzten Tage den Menschheit at Oper Köln and sings the role of Mrs Sedley in Christof Loy’s setting of Peter Grimes at Opéra de Lyon conducted by Wayne Marshall.
Anne Sofie von Otter is one of today’s most recorded artists, with an incomparable catalogue built across a career now spanning more than four decades at the top of her profession. A lengthy and exclusive relationship with Deutsche Grammophon produced a wealth of acclaimed recordings, including the Grammy-winning Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Claudio Abbado, Händel’s Ariodante, Giulio Cesare and Hercules with Marc Minkowski and a collaboration with pop legend Elvis Costello on For the Stars. On Naïve Classique, her double CD of Mélodies and Chansons, Douce France, received the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Von Otter immortalized many of her operatic characters on disc: Octavian with Bernard Haitink and the Staatskapelle Dresden and on DVD with Wiener Staatsoper under Carlos Kleiber; Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) under James Levine; La clemenza di Tito and Orfeo ed Euridice under Sir John Eliot Gardiner; and Ariadne auf Naxos under Giuseppe Sinopoli.