BIO
Mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook continues to garner acclaim for her captivating stage presence, “full bodied" (Indie Opera), and "nuanced voice” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).
In 2022, Cook returned to Virginia Opera to perform Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, which was followed by her company debut with OperaDelaware in the same role, returned to Painted Sky Opera to reprise the role of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Scalia-Ginsburg, and made her company debut with Arizona Opera performing Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos.
Cook began the 2023 season with her debut at Opera Maine performing Ava in Rocking Horse Winner.
Other notable stage credits include Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Mélisande (Impressions de Pelléas), Hannah After (As One), Blanche de la Force (Dialogues of the Carmelites), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Wellgunde (Das Rheingold), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), Antonia (Man of La Mancha), and Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte).
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Cook was scheduled to sing Edith in Pirates of Penzance and Elder #2 in the NY Premiere of Sky on Swings with Opera Saratoga. Cook has appeared with Opera Philadelphia, Virginia Opera, Arizona Opera, OperaDelaware, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Naples, Painted Sky Opera, Opera Iowa, Opera Company of Middlebury, Opera Louisiane, Fresh Squeezed Opera, Guérilla Opera, Odyssey Opera, Seagle Festival, and the Louisiana Opera Outreach Program.
Cook has performed as a soloist with Phoenix Symphony and the Albany Symphony Orchestra, as well as in selected concerts in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Cook was also a featured soloist in Boston Symphony Hall in a gala hosted by Alan Cumming.
“Mezzo-soprano Lauren Cook, as Ginsburg, has some heavy lifting in her solos, but handles it fluidly and expressively; she even owns Ginsburg's physical mannerisms.”
-NAPLES DAILY NEWS
As a contemporary repertoire advocate, Cook was recently seen performing Hannah After in the Oklahoma Premiere of Laura Kaminsky’s As One in her company debut with Painted Sky Opera, where she received a Broadway World award for “Best Performer in a Professional Streaming Musical”. Past recording projects include Edwin the Avatar/Eddie in the film version of Frances Pollock’s Earth to Kenzie with Virginia Opera, the workshop and premiere recording of The Leopard (Dellaira) as the role of Angelica with American Opera Projects, the premiere recording of The Wake World (Hertzberg) with Opera Philadelphia, a recording of Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Wuorinen) with Boston Modern Orchestra Projects, and a recording with Opera Philadelphia of Daniel Belquer’s piece Religare Resonare, composed specifically for use with Vibrotextile wearable technology by Music: Not Impossible Labs.
Cook has premiered many works including Molly Joyce’s Our Way of Being Small in the World with Fresh Squeezed Opera, Evan Mack’s Roscoe with Seagle Festival, and The Desert, Lazy Citizen, War is a Racket, and Malice in the Palace, all in collaboration with Guerilla Opera. Prior to the pandemic, Cook was scheduled to perform Elder #2 in the NY Premiere of Lembit Beecher’s Sky on Swings with Opera Saratoga. She has also created many roles in workshops of up-and-coming operas such as LeAnn in Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners, with Opera Philadelphia, Aphrodite in a pre-workshop of Permadeath (Visconti) in association with Friends of Madame White Snake, and Sharon in a workshop and performance of Richard Wargo’s Sharon’s Grave with Seagle Festival.