Performance Biography

American mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook has excelled in a wide range of roles with leading companies throughout the United States. Of her performance as the title character in Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, Opera Today wrote that “to say that Ms. Cook was a revelation is an understatement, since she tamped the part as her own, and experienced a triumph for her sensational performance….Ms. Cook is possessed of a round mezzo tone of great beauty, admirable control and potent power in all ranges and at any volume.”

Ms. Cook’s 2025-26 season includes the West Coast premiere of the song cycle “Crossing Borders” by Jake Heggie with Music of Remembrance, Dead Man Walking with San Francisco Opera (where she will cover the role of Mrs. DeRocher), a return to The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Innocence by Kaija Saariaho, and Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia with San Francisco Opera.

During the 2024-25 season, Catherine returned to Opera Colorado to sing the Marquise in La Fille du Régiment, made her debut with Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera as Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana, and made a role debut as Mama in Harvey Milk Reimagined with Opera Parallèle. Her engagements for the 2023-2024 season included the Lyric Opera of Chicago‘s production of Champion, and San Francisco Opera for Innocence. During the 2022-23 season, Cook returned to Opera Colorado as Mamma Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana and debuted the role of Mère Jeanne in Dialogues of the Carmelites for San Francisco Opera‘s Centennial Season. In November of 2022, Cook was awarded the San Francisco Opera‘s prestigious Opera Medal – the company’s highest honor – in acknowledgment of her 31 years of performance with the company. She also appeared alongside David Kim, concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra, as Guest Soloist for the Golden Gate Youth Orchestra‘s 60th Anniversary Concert. Her engagements during the 2020-21 season included a return to San Francisco Opera as Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Drive-In and a digital project with Opera Colorado titled “April in Paris,” curated by director David Lefkowich.

Past seasons featured returns to San Francisco Opera as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro and to Opera Parallèle as Julia Child in Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appétit! which she reprised at the Sun Valley Music Festival. Other career highlights include Mother Bailey in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life with San Francisco Opera, Death in the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s The Parting with Music of Remembrance in Seattle, The Metropolitan Opera‘s production of Thomas Adès’s critically acclaimed opera The Exterminating Angel as Camila, and The Innkeeper in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov with the San Francisco Symphony, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting.

Ms. Cook has been recognized as “San Francisco Opera’s go-to choice” for a wide range of roles (San Francisco Chronicle, with recent highlights as the title role in Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne; La Frugola in Il tabarro; Mrs. McLean in Floyd’s Susannah; and Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro. Other company highlights include Arlene Kamen and Wang Tai Tai in the world premiere of Wallace’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter; Jade Boucher in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, which was recorded and released by ERATO; Annina in Der Rosenkavalier; and Mother Goose in The Rake’s Progress.

Additional previous engagements include Marthe in Faust and Glasa in Kát’a Kabanová with The Metropolitan Opera; Ježibaba in Rusalka with Opera Colorado; Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro and Tisbe in La Cenerentola with Houston Grand Opera; The Witch in Hänsel und Gretel and a recital with San Francisco Symphony; Older Woman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight with Opera Parallèle; Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd with Mill City Summer Opera; and two world premieres with Music of Remembrance: Zosha in Heggie’s Out of Darkness and Gertrude Stein in Cipullo’s After Life, as well as a reprise of the latter with Urban Arias.

Cook can be heard in the world premiere recordings of After Life and The Parting, both released by Naxos, and as the alto soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra, released by Centaur Records. Her discography also includes the world premiere recording of Dead Man Walking with San Francisco Opera on Erato/Warner Classics, conducted by Patrick Summers.

Ms. Cook was a participant of San Francisco Opera‘s prestigious Adler Fellowship and Merola Opera Program. She is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as the Merola Chicago Regional Auditions Yoder Award. Ms. Cook holds a Master of Music degree from Wichita State University and an Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she won the Norman Treigle Award in their Corbett Competition. She has received Outstanding Alumni awards from both Millikin University and Wichita State University.

Catherine Cook is a Professor of Voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Teaching Biography

Photo Credit: Vero Kherian, Cory Weaver, Dan Norman, Kersh Branz