“The Thomas Cooley Case”

Photographer: Paul Foster-Williams

“And then ‘the Thomas Cooley case’, the Don Ottavio. What should we say? The man sang his two arias so inhumanly beautifully- his ‘Dalla sua pace’ was a diamond – that for a moment we no longer knew what we were doing. The last thing we are aiming for is the Fritz Wunderlich police, but our thoughts wandered for a moment to the best Mozart tenor ever. Cooley’s expressiveness, virtuosity and expressiveness [sic] are of an extraterrestrial level. A breathtaking climax.” —Opera Gazette

“The tenor in this opera is provided beautifully by Thomas Cooley’s dulcet tones, as Don Ottavio, who hopes to win Donna Anna’s hand by consoling her after the murder of her father, Il Commendatore. This for me was the outstanding performance of the evening.”—Arts Talk Magazine NL

“As Don Ottavio, the tenor Thomas Cooley showed us two voices at the premiere.  An extroverted and focused timbre in the recitatives, while showing a more subdued, at times almost velvety approach in his two arias.” —Opus Klasiek

“An outstanding extra asset: the warm tenor Thomas Cooley as Don Ottavio out of thousands.”—NRC Handelsblad