Johnson County Community College
Press Release
College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Director, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122
1/02/08
Story by Peggy Graham
Alice Coote Is Mezzo with Style
One of the leading artists of her generation, acclaimed British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, accompanied by pianist Julius Drake, perform Schubert’s Winterreise during their Midwest concert premiere at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, in Polsky Theatre of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College. Artist Insights presented by Paul Laird, musicologist, University of Kansas, begin at 7 p.m.
Slight and attractive, Coote has made a name for herself in opera “trouser roles,” a young male character sung by a female. She reinforces that reputation, as well as her one for lieder performance, in the Carlsen Center program, Winterreise(Winter Journey), a cycle of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, best known as the song cycle set for male voice and piano by Schubert. The interpretive demands of Winterreise are unparalled within the song-cycle genre, allowing Coote to showcase her strong physical and vocal interpretation of the song’s narrative.
Coote studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Royal Northern College of Music and the National Opera Studio. She has been awarded the Brigitte Fassbaender Award for Lieder Interpretation and the Decca Kathleen Ferrier Prize.
Her concert appearances include repertoire from the oratorios of Bach and Handel to the works of Mahler, Debussy and Britten. She has performed with philharmonic orchestras in London, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Brussels, Madrid, New York and Salzburg. In 2001, she made her debut at the BBC “Last Night of the Proms” and returned in 2003 for Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’été with the Hallé Orchestra under Mark Elder.
At the BBC Chamber Proms 2003, Coote and Julius Drake performed the world premiere of Judith Weir’s song cycle The Voice of Desire, written especially for them. They also regularly appear at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and at New York’s Lincoln Center.
Coote’s recordings have included Walton’s Gloria (Chandos), The Choice of Hercules (Hyperion) and Orfeo (Virgin Classics). A disc of Schumann and Mahler for EMI with Coote and Drake was released in 2003.
Her operatic roles include Orfeo, Ruggiero, Sesto, Poppea, Penelope, Dorabella, Cherubino, Lucretia, Hansel, Orlando and Oktavian for opera companies including Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, English National Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Amsterdam, Paris, Nancy, Nantes, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and the Salzburg Festival. Most recently, she made her role debut as Orlowsky in Die Fledermaus for Chicago Lyric Opera.
Upcoming engagements include Nerone/L’incoronazione di Poppea at Glyndebourne, Charlotte/Werther in Frankfurt, Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel at Covent Garden and at the Metropolitan Opera, N.Y., the title role in Bizet’s Carmen and Sesto in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito for English National Opera, and Sesto in Handel’s Giulio Cesare for the Met.
London-born pianist Drake specializes in chamber music and plays with many of the world’s leading vocal and instrumental artists. He has performed with Coote in recital and on disc.
Tickets for Alice Coote are $25, available by calling the Carlsen Center box office, 913-469-4445.
