Thomas Cooley
Tenor
“Mr. Cooley’s penetrating tenor had power and depth. Yet he floated high, soft phrases with an ethereal delicacy that recalled Pears’s distinctive sound.”
— The New York Times
With a two-decade career, tenor Thomas Cooley shines internationally, gracing stages in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He's enchanted audiences in renowned venues like Carnegie Hall and collaborated with esteemed conductors including Nicholas McGegan, Jane Glover, and Helmuth Rilling. Cooley's repertoire expertise in Handel and Bach has led to acclaimed performances worldwide, from the Philadelphia Orchestra to the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. Notably, he's portrayed over 35 operatic roles and boasts a discography of 20 recordings. Stay tuned for his upcoming Bach's St. Matthew Passion recording in 2025 (singing the Evangelist) with Avie Records. Read full biography below.
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Biography
With an acclaimed international performance career spanning over two decades, tenor Thomas Cooley continues to set the standard in his field, delivering memorable performances across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. These performances have taken him to 30 different states across the United States and to numerous countries worldwide.
Cooley has made noteworthy appearances in major concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Konzerthaus Berlin, Berlin Philharmonie, Tonhalle Zürich, Symphony Hall Boston, Avery Fisher Hall, Konzerthaus Vienna, Walt Disney Hall, Kennedy Center, Bavarian State Opera, Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow, and the KKZ Lucerne, Festival Hall Osaka, and Singapore’s Esplanade Hall, and has collaborated with numerous distinguished conductors such as Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Teodor Currentzis, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Nicholas McGegan, Robert Spano, Franz Welser-Möst, Bernard Labadie, Harry Bicket, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Osmo Vänskä, Eiji Oue, Lan Shui, Matthew Halls, David Robertson, Dame Jane Glover, Markus Stenz, Carlo Rizzi, Thomas Søndergård, Manfred Honneck, Jaap van Zweden, Edo de Waart, Paul McCreesh and Andrea Marcon.
Among Cooley's notable engagements are frequent collaborations with internationally acclaimed orchestras and ensembles such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, National Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, St. Louis Symphony, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Trinity Wall Street, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, Singapore Symphony, Mark Morris Dance Group, the Jerusalem Symphony, and the Osaka Philharmonic.
Renowned as an expert in the works of Handel and J.S. Bach, particularly in the role of the Evangelist, Cooley has performed this repertoire with renowned ensembles such as the Thomanerchor and Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Windsbacher Knabenchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Dresdener Kreuzchor and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. He also performs regularly with historically informed groups such as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Göttingen and Halle Handel Festivals, Les Violons du Roy, MusicAeterna, Tafelmusik, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, the Carmel and Oregon Bach Festivals, Pacific MusicWorks, Music of the Baroque and the Munich Bach Choir. Cooley has a close working relationship with the Baroque specialist Nicholas McGegan, with whom he has performed over one hundred times at the Göttingen Händelfestspiele, with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and with leading orchestras all across the United States, as well as numerous CD recordings.
Thomas Cooley was a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich from 2002 to 2006. Over his career, he has portrayed over 35 operatic roles with renowned institutions such as the Bavarian State Opera, the Krakow State Opera, Minnesota Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Göttingen Händelfestspiele, and with the Mark Morris Dance Group at Lincoln Center.
Thomas Cooley's discography includes 20 recordings with labels such as Carus, CPO, Deutsche Grammophon, Hänssler, MDG, Orchid Classics and Sony. An upcoming recording of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, is planned for Avie Records 2025.