Alexandra Coku

This American soprano made her British debut when she appeared as Euridice in Harry Kupfer’s celebrated production of Gluck’s „Orfeo ed Euridice“ at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, a role she repeated in a different performing edition with the Netherlands Opera, where she was also heard as Isifile in Mozart’s „Mitridate, re di Ponto“. In the same season she made her debuts with the Opéra Lyon in Salieri’s “Prima la musica, poi le parole” as Donna Eleonora, and with the Oper Frankfurt as Helena in Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummernight’s Dream”. She soon returned to Frankfurt as Sandrina in Mozart’s “La finta giardiniera”, and to open the new opera house as Pamina in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte”, a role which she has also sung with great success in the Wiener Staatsoper, Bayersiche Staatsoper, Oper Bonn, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and the Bühnen der Stadt Köln.

At the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, she has also been heard in new productions as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”, the Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”, and as Elettra in Mozart’s “Idomeneo”, conducted by Lord Yehudi Menuhin. She has also been heard in Düsseldorf as Antonia in “Hoffmanns Erzählungen”, Michaela in Bizet’s “Carmen”, and as Konstanze in Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”. With the Bühnen der Stadt Köln (Cologne Opera), she has sung both Antonia and Giulietta in Offenbach’s „Les Contes d’Hoffmann“, Contessa Almaviva, Musetta and Romilda in Handel’s „Xerxes“.

She made her San Francisco Opera debut as Celia in Mozart’s „Lucio Silla“. Miss Coku has also celebrated great success in the role of Anne Trulove in Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” with the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Neues Berliner Kammerorchester, and Chicago City Musik. Miss Coku was recently heard in Amsterdam with the Nederlands Kammerorkest in a new production of Francis Poulenc’s “La voix humaine”, and as Isifile in David Alden’s production of Cavalli’s “Giasone” in the Spoleto Festival in Charleston.

In the 2000-2001 season, she sang her first Ellen Orford in Benjamin Britten’s “Peter Grimes” at the Opéra de Nancy and made her debut at the Grand Theâtre de Genève in the title role in Jean-Michel Damase’s “Madame de”.

In the Glimmerglass Opera, Miss Coku triumphed as Handel’s Agrippina in a new production conducted by Harry Bicket. Immediately following, she made her debut at New York City Opera as Pamina in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”, and was much celebrated as well for her portrayal of Musetta in Puccini’s “La Bohème”.

In the 2001-2002 season, she made her debut in the Theâtre du Capitole, Toulouse as the Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”. She made her debut at the Houston Grand Opera as Ginevra in David Alden’s production of Handel’s “Ariodante”, conducted by Christopher Hogwood. Immediately following, she made her debut in the Opéra Marseille as Contessa Almaviva, and at the Händel Festspiel Halle as Rosmene in Händel’s “Imeneo”. In 2003 she sang her debut at the Dresdner Festspiele and Ludwigsburger Festspiele as Lora in Wagner’s first opera, “Die Feen”, under the direction of Jun Märkl. The same season, she returned to Houston Grand Opera to sing Pamina in Mozart’s “Magic Flute”, and made her debut at the Pittsburgh Opera as Contessa Almaviva.

In 2005 she made her role debut as Woglinde in Pierre Audis much-celebrated production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle with the Nederlands Opera, under the direction of Hartmut Haenchen, which was released as a DVD.

She began the season 2006 with her role debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the Opéra du Rhin, Strasbourg. She was then heard in Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine” in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw under the direction of Marc Soustrot. In that same season, she sang the title role in Joseph Martin Krause’s Proserpina in the Schwetzingen Festival in a new production by Georges Delnon.

In 2007, Miss Coku was invited back to Toulouse’s for the world premiere of Fenelon’s “Faust” at Toulouse’s Theatre du Capitole, directed by Nicholas Noel and under the direction of Bernard Kontarsky. She made her debut later that year in the Valencia Opera (Palau de las Arts) as Michaela in Bizet’s Carmen, under the direction of Lorin Maazel, and made her debut at the Nürnberg Opera as Fiordiligi in Chris Alexander celebrated production of Cosi fan tutte.

This year, Miss Coku made a triumphant debut at the Cincinnati Opera in the title role of Daniel Catan’s Florencia en el Amazonas. Later this year, she will made her role debut as the Feldmarschallin in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Stadttheater Bern.

Miss Coku also appears regularly as a soloist in orchestral concerts and oratorios throughout Europe. She is a regular guest of the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Alte Oper, Frankfurt and the Berliner Konzerthaus. She has recorded Schumann’s “Das Paradies und die Peri” under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner for Deutsche Grammaphone. Other commercial recordings include Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Netherlands Philharmonic under the direction of Hartmut Haenchen, and Mendelssohn’s “Elias” with the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra under the direction of Sylvain Cambreling, the world premiere recording of Dvorak’s Stabat Mater (original version) with Accentus under the direction of Laurence Equilbey, world premiere recording of Eduard Marxsen Lieder, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Aachener Philharmoniker under the direction of Marcus Bosch.

She received her B.A. in English Literature under a full scholarship from Stanford University before going on to Indiana University for her M.M. and doctoral studies, where she studied with Professor Margaret Harshaw. Since 2004 she has studied with Dale Fundling in Salzburg.