About Allison Cook
With an extraordinary versatility and vocal range seldom found, Allison Cook's recent seasons have seen a number of important debuts including Teatro alla Scala, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Wiener Festwochen, Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and Teatr Wielki as well as the expansion of her original mezzo repertoire to include roles such as Salome, Marie in Wozzeck, Kundry in Parsifal, Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, Schoenberg's Erwartung, the Duchess of Argyll in Adès's Powder Her Face, Miss Jessel in Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Venus In Tannhauser and the title role in Kaija Saariaho's Emilie.
Allison's recent operatic engagements include her role debut as Kundry conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, Foreign Princess in Rusalka in Staatsoper Stuttgart with Oksana Lyniv and Cornellias Meister, a return to the role of Miss Jessel wih Ivan Fisher in Budapest and Teatro Olympico, her role and house debut as Salome in ENO's new production by Adena Jacobs and conducted by Martyn Brabbins, a return to Gran Teatre Liceu in the title role in Casablancas's world premier L'Enigma de Lea, a return to Teatro alla Scala in Francesconi's iconic Quartett, Venus in Tannhäuser conducted by Patrick Hahn, Judith in Bartock's Bluebeard's Castle in a new production in Lisbon and Lyon, Lavina in the world premier of Errolyn Wallen's Dido's Ghost, her return to ROH Covent Garden in her reprise of the role of The Red Queen in the first staged production of Gerald Barry's Alice's Adventures Underground and a reprise of her roles in Joe-Hill Gibbons' production of Turnage's Greek at BAM, NY. Allison also recently made her Enescu Festival debut in a concert version of Bluebeard's Castle joined forces with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra for Saariaho's Emilie, reprised her role of Woman in Schoenberg's Erwartung in a new production conducted by Alejo Perez in Antwerp and performed the Bolcom Cabaret Songs with Wayne Marshall with Orquestra Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon.
Looking ahead Allison will make her house debut in Zurich in a new production of Haubenstock-Ramati's America, conducted by Gabriel Feltz and directed by Sebastian Baumgarten, return to one of her signatory roles as Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle with Martyn Brabbins at ENO, make her San Francisco debut with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Freddie Wake Walker for a double bill of Errolyn Wallen’s Dido’s Ghost and Purcell’s Dido as well as returning to La Monnaie de Munt for Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw.
In past seasons, Allison created the role of Marquise de Merteuil, to great critical acclaim in the world premier of Luca Francesconi's Quartett at Teatro alla Scala conducted by Susanna Malkki and directed by Àlex Ollé / Valentina Carrasco and La Fura dels Baus. This highly successful collaboration has since travelled to Barcelona, Vienna, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and in concert in Paris with L'Ensemble Intercontemporain. Allison has also recently sang two new productions of Thomas Adès's Powder Her Face in New York, Warsaw and La Monnaie, working with directors Jay Scheib and Mariusz Trelinski to portray the role of the Duchess of Argyll. Her collaboration with Trelinski continued with his much celebrated production of Bluebeard's castle, in the role of Judith. She also continued her collaboration with both Thomas Adès and The Britten Sinfonia in the world premier of Gerald Barry's Alice's Adventures Underground at the Walt Disney Hall in LA and the Barbican, London.
Allison's role debut as Frau in Schoenberg's Erwartung was in Netia Jones's sensational production at the Bergen International Festival and received praise of being "downright phenomenal" in Kaija Saariaho's Emily in Salzburg.
A former member of Les Jeunes Voix du Rhin at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg and the Centre Formation Lyrique at Opéra National du Paris , Allison's European profile has been build on performances including Der Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos) in Strasbourg, the world premiere of Peter Eotvos's Le Balcon in Aix en Provence, Amsterdam and Toulouse, the roles of Kate Julian (Owen Wingrave), Blossom (Turnage's Anna Nicole) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Der Trommler (Der Kaiser Von Atlantis) with Opéra National de Lorraine and at Le Cité de la Musique in Paris and both Carmen and Orlofsky for Glyndebourne Touring Opera.