“Two-time GRAMMY Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke has been called a “luminous standout” by The New York Times and “equal parts poise, radiance and elegant directness” by Opera News. She has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opéra National de Bordeaux, and Gran Teatre del Liceu, among others, and with over 90 symphony orchestras worldwide, frequently in the works of Mahler” (sashacooke.com). She will join the TSO for Mahler’s Third on January 24 and 26 and Mahler and Schumann on February 1 and 2. Ahead of the concerts we sat down with Sasha to discuss returning to Tucson, Mahler, the differences between preparing for opera and symphony, and more.
Return to Tucson
I love Tucson. There is a very familial feeling between the community and the orchestra, and José Luis. I feel like Tucson loves art and loves to support art, and that’s a lovely feeling to be around. I’ve never done two concerts back-to-back like this. What will be interesting is that the performances will probably influence one another, and inspire one another, because of course staying in the Mahler world is really special. I think a lot of classical music lovers usually think of his symphonies, but his songs are so personal and there’s something really nice about doing the Rückert-Lieder songs, which are intimate, romantic, lyrical, and then you have this beautiful solo moment for the voice in the Third Symphony, which is the same. It’s very vulnerable, very intimate and in a way, Mahler’s saying I’m going to save the one human instrument, the human voice for the most personal, the most vulnerable. In a way these performances kind of speak to each other in that way.
Connection to Mahler
What strikes me about Mahler is that he always felt very much like an outsider. He didn’t fit in in various ways as a Jewish man in Austria, as a kind of composer/ conductor. There were so many ways that he felt ostracized and felt a lot of pain throughout his life. He had health problems, and he lost children and siblings. I feel like the emotion he expresses through his music speaks to everybody. There is a certain kind of universal open-heartedness and vulnerability that I think really strikes people. I connect to that too. I think I carry a bit of my own pain in my music making. I don’t mind getting vulnerable. Collectively, we love his music because we go on this long, crazy emotional journey, and if we weren’t all together in the room side by side, it wouldn’t be the same. It feels like this big human shared experience, which has everything in it. So, if you just lost a relative or just got married, or just had a baby, or you’re going through something hard personally, it’s all in his music.
Preparing for Symphony vs. Opera
Time is really important in preparing for symphony. We [orchestra and soloist] don’t get to be in the room more than that week. The biggest misconception is that the singer looks at the music the week before. Which is too late. We study the music weeks before the first rehearsal because we need to leave room for nerves, for not feeling well, and for the possibility of something musically going wrong so that the last thing you need to think about is notes and rhythms. You should be thinking about nuance, poetry, atmosphere, intention, and drama, not finding your music. Then I’m able to listen to the symphony and ask what they are doing. What is that oboist playing? But if I’m thinking of music, I’m preoccupied. If I’ve already done my homework, then the music can start to happen and then I can start to think about what I’m trying to say, and I love that.
Another common unknown thing is that you really have to know your pitch really well. In opera we’re surrounded by a music staff, we have coaches, we have diction people, we have the conductor, we have our colleagues. There are so many people that can say that this or that could be better. In concert, you have 2 rehearsals and then the show. There’s no time to find it. What I like to do is practice in a certain way to test my pitch to make sure it’s solid, so that when I hear the orchestra, I can be right in the center of it. In doing that homework, it helps that I am a pianist, I play the accompaniment a lot because that will be my frame of reference as opposed to just focusing on my part. Sadly, I think sometimes singers do that with operas. They’ll learn all their notes, their color, and I understand not everyone can play piano, but for me, I think the direct line between why I do so much symphony is straight to my piano background. I know I’m a piece in a much bigger puzzle, and I think there’s a lot of study, a lot of practice that is silent. It’s not singing, it’s not making music, it’s listening, looking at the score, it’s making notes. I think that’s an important part of the homework. You connect to the atmosphere and meaning of the piece.
Diversifying Repertoire
In a sense, art has always been meant to reflect society, so it’s essential that we now reflect our current society, which is not what it was 400 years ago. Thank goodness. I think it’s the way we bring in a new audience and It’s how we stay true to our mission statement. It’s honestly how we grow because it’s not that we don’t grow by playing Brahms, but I think that we have to constantly keep a pulse on the human experience. That doesn’t happen just by playing the old masters. I’m doing this new opera in Brussels and before opening night all nine shows had sold out. Why? I think it’s because people want to feel connected to art, and sometimes the older things don’t offer that for whatever reason. We have to think, how do we take down that ivory tower? We do that when the person sitting next to you wrote a piece and this person came from our community. I think that’s really disarming and moving.
I also think we have to provide what our community wants. It’s not only the right thing to do because we want to grow culturally but, also, we serve a purpose to our community. We’re here as an institution of the community. We need to provide what speaks to all. An unfortunate byproduct of the past is that some art forms like theater had more of an accessible outlet to many layers of society. Opera and classical music by their nature weren’t considered every man’s art. We have to shed this past. Acknowledge it. I don’t think we should pretend that it didn’t happen. I think we should say yes, you’re right, now let’s move forward.
Visit the Mahler’s Third concert page for tickets and more information.
Visit the Mahler and Schumann concert page for tickets and more information.
