Thomas Cooley

Praised by the New York Times for his “sweet, penetrating lyric tenor with aching sensitivity,” and by San Francisco Classical Voice as “an indomitable musical force,” tenor Thomas Cooley is a singer of great versatility, expressiveness, and virtuosity. He has collaborated with conductors such as Teodor Currentzis, Nicholas McGegan, Robert Spano, Manfred Honneck, Donald Runnicles, Helmuth Rilling, Osmo Vänskä, Eji Oue, David Robertson, Markus Stenz, Bernard Labadie, and Franz Welser-Möst. He last appeared with Music of the Baroque in May 2019.

Internationally in demand for a wide range of repertoire in concert, opera, and chamber music, Thomas Cooley performs regularly with major orchestras such as the Atlanta, St. Louis, and National Symphonies; the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec; Copenhagen Philharmonic; Bavarian Radio Symphony; Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi; the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig; and the Osaka Philharmonic.

Important recent engagements of Baroque music include Telemann’s Tag des Gerichts in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Evangelist in St. John Passion on tour in Italy with the Munich Bach Choir; Purcell’s Indian Queen with musicAeterna; Bach’s Lutheran Masses with Violons du Roy in Montreal; the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Seattle Symphony; Handel’s _Joshua _with Philharmonia Baroque; and creating the role of Acis in a new production of Acis and Galatea with the Mark Morris Dance Group. A program of Handel arias and duets entitled “As Steals the Morn” with San Francisco’s Voices of Music was selected as the best Early/Baroque performance in the Bay Area in 2019.

On the operatic stage Thomas Cooley has performed many of the great tenor roles in the operas of Mozart, including Tamino, Belmonte, Ferrando, Don Ottavio, and the title role in Idomeneo. Other roles include Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia, the title role in Bernstein’s Candide, and Bajazet in Handel’s Tamerlano. He was a member of the ensemble at the Gärtnerplatz Theater in Munich for four years, and has also performed at the Bavarian State Opera, the Krakow State Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and the Göttingen Händelfestspiele.

Thomas Cooley’s recordings include Mathan in Handel’s Athalia with the Kölner Kammerchor (MDG) and the premiere recording of Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus (Deutsche Grammophon), as well as Mozart’s Requiem with the Windsbacher Knabenchor (Sony) and Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Mass in C Minor with Handel and Haydn Society (Coro Allegro).

Thomas Cooley appears as soloist in The St. John Passion on March 10 and 11