Soprano Kathleen Cooke is celebrated for her expressive artistry, stylistic versatility, and deep musical insight that spans repertoire from the Baroque era to the 20th century. Equally at home on stage and in the studio, she brings both intellectual curiosity and emotional authenticity to her performances, guided by her belief that the voice is a living, responsive instrument, one that reflects the wholeness of body, mind, and spirit.

Kathleen's specialization in Baroque repertoire reflects her fascination with the expressive freedom and rhetorical power of early music. She has performed roles such as Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare and Morgana in Alcina, and participated in the 2024 Baroque Opera Workshop at Queens College, where she deepened her study of historically informed performance practice. Her interpretations of Handel, Monteverdi, Rameau, Purcell, and Cavalli, among others are marked by technical precision, ornamented expressivity, and an understanding of text as the foundation of musical meaning.

Though Baroque performance is her area of specialty, Kathleen's artistry extends far beyond it. She continues to explore repertoire from the Classical, Romantic, and 20th-century periods, embracing composers from Mozart and Schumann to Fauré, Hahn, and Lori Laitman. Her performances highlight the continuity of vocal expression across style periods, the idea that every era offers a unique window into the human experience, yet all are unified through the living act of singing. Recent work includes Handel's Messiah, Bach's Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Reynaldo Hahn Art Songs, and Laitman's Days and Nights. 

Kathleen believes that singing is an act of empathy and truth-telling, that the voice, at its best, reveals rather than conceals. Her teaching and performing alike are grounded in the conviction that healthy technique serves expressive freedom. Drawing on the pedagogical principles of James C. McKinney and the acoustic understanding of resonance and breath management, she views vocal training as a process of uncovering, not adding, helping singers discover their natural instrument through awareness, coordination, and emotional honesty. Her vocal pedagogy emphasizes three core principles: Freedom through Function, The Voice as Embodied Sound, and Singing as Human Connection.

As a performer-scholar, Kathleen approaches each piece as a conversation between text and tone. Her interpretive work is deeply informed by textual analysis, poetic meaning, and harmonic structure, an approach she attributes to her study of German Lieder and French mélodie. Whether performing Schumann's Widmung, Handel's "Piangerò la sorte mia" from Giulio Cesare, or Liszt's Oh! Quand je dors, she seeks to embody what she calls the "poetic impulse of the phrase," the place where musical and verbal meaning converge.

Kathleen's repertoire reflects her commitment to both historical depth and contemporary relevance. She has crafted detailed stylistic analyses and performance studies of major art songs from Schumann, Fauré, Schubert, Liszt, Hahn, and Brahms, as well as earlier works by Handel, Rameau, Bach, Cavalli, and Purcell. This ongoing research informs her interpretive choices and teaching philosophy, reinforcing her conviction that technical mastery and intellectual understanding are two sides of the same artistry.

As an educator and mentor, Kathleen encourages singers to view vocal study as a lifelong journey of discovery rather than a fixed achievement. She believes that each singer's voice tells their own story, and that honoring the individuality of sound is as crucial as cultivating technical consistency. Her holistic approach integrates anatomical awareness, efficient breath management, resonance balancing, and expressive phrasing, empowering singers to communicate authentically in any style. 

Her professional activities extend to academic and choral settings, where she has led workshops, coached diction, and assisted in ensemble preparation. She is known for her collaborative spirit, musical sensitivity, and the clarity of her pedagogical communication, qualities that make her a sought-after colleague among conductors and fellow musicians.

Kathleen's artistic goals are rooted in connection: between eras, between disciplines, and between people. Whether performing the virtuosic runs of Handel's "Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion" or the intimate lyricism of Paladilhe's Psyché, she seeks to communicate the universal truths embedded in each phrase: the longing, joy, and humanity that transcend musical style.

She summarizes her belief about the voice simply: "The voice is not something we create; it is something we uncover. Singing begins in stillness, is shaped by breath, and finds meaning in the listener. It is both a science and a soul work, a living art that teaches us how to be human."