Two-Time Grammy-Winner Sasha Cooke Comes To Kaufman Music Center, May 25

Many musicians were out of work in 2020, and during a time of uncertainty and unemployment, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke raised funds to commission over 30 artists to create 17 new songs. These composers and librettists collaborated with her to create the GRAMMY-nominated album how do i find you.

On May 25 at 7:30PM, the internationally acclaimed opera star brings her program to Kaufman Music Center's Merkin Hall with pianist Kirill Kuzmin, who also appeared on the album. The program features music by Caroline Shaw, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, and more. Immediately following the performance, Ms. Cooke will be joined by collaborators Kamala Sankaram, Lembit Beecher, Kelley Rourke, Timo Andres, Mark Campbell, Christopher Cerrone, and others for a talkback with the audience.

While conceiving of this album, Ms. Cooke invited artists to explore their relationship to art and humanity in a time marked by isolation and disconnection. The response ranged from heartfelt expressions of conflict surrounding injustice and turmoil to the abstract and wryly humorous. Ms. Cooke, who has been open about her own struggles during the height of the pandemic, notes that "from the moment I called the first composer, it felt as if a light suddenly appeared and a piece of myself was returned to me." The mother of two, who is an alum of both The Juilliard School and The Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, also remarks on the significance of this performance: "The NY premiere of how do i find you will feel especially meaningful not only because it is New York City but because it is where almost half of the composers and writers call home."

This summer Ms. Cooke begins her tenure as Co-Director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute at Music Academy of the West after rounding out a busy 2022-23 season.

how do i find you

Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 7:30 PM
Kaufman Music Center Merkin Hall129 W 67th St, New York, NY 10023
Link: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/give-voice-sasha-cooke-mezzo-soprano-kirill-kuzmin-piano/

Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
Kirill Kuzmin, piano

CAROLINE SHAW, how do I find you
KAMALA SANKARAM / Mark Campbell, Listen
MATT BOEHLER / TODD BOSS, Risk Not One
MISSY MAZZOLI / ROYCE VAVREK, Self-Portrait with Dishevelled Hair John Glover / KELLEY ROURKE, Spider
RENE ORTH / COLLEEN MURPHY, Dear Colleagues
CHRISTOPHER CERRONE / JOHN K. SAMSON, Everything Will Be Okay
Gabriel Kahane, The Hazelnut Tree
ANDREW MARSHALL / TODD BOSS, (A Bad Case of) Kids
Huang Ruo / David Henry Hwang, A Work of Angels
Timo Andres / LOLA RIDGE, Altitude
Nico Muhly / THOMAS TRAHERNE, Inward Things
HILARY PURRINGTON / Mark Campbell, That Night
LEMBIT BEECHER / LIZA BALKAN, After the Fires
FRANCES POLLOCK / EMILY ROLLER, #MasksUsedToBeFun
JOEL THOMPSON / Gene Scheer, Still Waiting
JIMMY LÓPEZ BELLIDO / Mark Campbell, Where Once We Sang

Tickets: Orchestra and balcony $39 / Student tickets $15

Sasha Cooke opens the 2022/23 season with a return to Houston Grand Opera in her role debut as Thirza in the company's new production of Dame Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers conducted by Patrick Summers. On the concert stage, she performs throughout the U.S. and abroad: in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with Wiener Konzerthaus, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Houston Symphony conducted by Juraj Valčuha, Michael Tilson Thomas' Meditations on Rilke with the New York Philharmonic conducted by the composer, Mahler's Symphony no.3 with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra alongside Gemma New and Mozart's Requiem with the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä and later with Nashville Symphony. She debuts with Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano and the Utah Symphony in Mendelssohn's Elijah which she later performs with NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under the baton of Alan Gilbert. She makes returns to Chicago Symphony for works by Vivaldi, to Philadelphia Orchestra for Handel's Messiah and to Kansas City Symphony for Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. Special collaborations on the recital stage include Jake Heggie's Intonations: Songs for the Violins of Hope with Music of Remembrance; recitals with guitarist Jason Vieaux at San Francisco Performances and Round Top Festival; and a recital at Kaufman Music Center, alongside pianist Kirill Kuzmin featuring how do I find you, a collection of words and music created in 2020 and released on Pentatone records, that was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2022 for Best Vocal Solo Album.

In the 2021-2022 season, Ms. Cooke returned to The Metropolitan Opera both for her role debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, under the baton of James Gaffigan, and as Eduige in Rodelinda, under the baton of Harry Bicket. She joined the Minnesota Orchestra for Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and subsequently for Mahler's Symphony No. 8, the latter conducted by Osmo Vänskä. She also joined the Houston Symphony for Nadia Boulanger's Faust et Hélène, led by Fabien Gabel, and again for Mahler Symphony no. 2 Resurrection led by Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Additionally, she performed Michael Tilson Thomas' Meditations on Rilke with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by the composer, Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict with Festival de la Côte Saint-André, led by John Nelson, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Mahler's Symphony No. 2 Resurrection with the Oregon Symphony, Jake Heggie's The Work at Hand and Elgar's Sea Pictures with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, led by Gemma New and Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the New World Symphony. Finally, she gave a solo recital alongside pianist Myra Huang at the Tucson Desert Song Festival where she premiered a new work by Jennifer Higdon and returned to the Music Academy of the West as artist in residence.

Kirill Kuzmin is currently Head of Music Staff at Houston Grand Opera. In the 2021-22 season, Mr. Kuzmin continues working on HGO music staff for productions of Dialogues des Carmélites and Turandot. He also serves as a music staff member at The Glimmerglass Festival.

He has worked on a number of productions with HGO, including Eugene Onegin (also as diction coach), Le nozze di Figaro, Faust, Giulio Cesare (also as continuo accompanist), West Side Story, as well as two of the monumental Ring cycle operas by Wagner, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. He also served as principal coach for the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek's The House Without a Christmas Tree and was involved in the world premiere of David Hanlon and Stephanie Fleischmann's After the Storm. At Glimmerglass, he served as principal coach for the productions of Silent Night and La Traviata.

In the 2018-19 season, Mr. Kuzmin continues working on HGO music staff for productions of Dialogues des Carmélites and Turandot. Recital appearances included Schwabacher Debut Recital in San Francisco (with baritone Sol Jin). In 2021, he was the pianist for video-streamed recitals with Arturo Chacun-Cruz, Sasha Cooke, and Nicholas Phan. In 2022, he will appear in a recital with Sasha Cooke at San Francisco Symphony.

A Russian native, Mr. Kuzmin spent three years with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, first as a young artist and then as a full-time member of the music staff. During his time with the company, he served as opera coach and accompanist on a number of Russian operas, including Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tsar's Bride, as well as works from the standard operatic repertoire, such as Turandot, Der Rosenkavalier, La traviata, and La sonnambula. While in Moscow, he also served as pianist and coach for a number of operatic undertakings by the acclaimed Moscow Philharmonic, including Le nozze di Figaro, Maria Stuarda, and Orphée et Eurydice.

Mr. Kuzmin holds degrees in piano performance from the Moscow Conservatory and in collaborative piano from the Moscow Conservatory and the University of Michigan, where he studied with renowned collaborative pianist Martin Katz.

Established with the mission of providing access without barriers, Kaufman Music Center proudly programs a comprehensive musical experience for students, performers and audiences in New York and beyond. Merkin Hall, the Center's intimate performance venue, provides unparalleled access to today's most compelling artists, workshops, and competitions, offering students, artists and audiences alike the chance to share music at the highest level. Its acclaimed Artist-in-Residence program also gives those performers the resources to develop groundbreaking, multidisciplinary projects as well as educational opportunities to mentor and inspire. Kaufman Music Center continuously cultivates and nurtures new generations of artists through Special Music School, New York's only K-12 public school prioritizing an intensive, immersive, and musically-focused education without financial barriers, as well as Lucy Moses School, Manhattan's largest community performing arts school for students of all ages.