BIOGRAPHY: After the release of Kim Cook’s recording of the Shostakovich Concerto and the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Volgograd Symphony, Fanfare Magazine praised her “glorious sound”, and critics from Gramophone described her playing as “eloquent.” Ms. Cook has performed to critical acclaim as a soloist in 30 countries and has toured as Artistic Ambassador for the U.S. State Department. At her Carnegie Hall debut, critics admired her "ravishing colors and textures" (New York Concert Review). In Europe, she was hailed as “the superb American cellist” (Die Rheinpfalz, Frankfurt). Ms. Cook’s recordings include the concertos by Dvorak, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Saint-Saëns, Lalo, and in 2018, the concertos by Schumann, Elgar and Strauss (Don Quixote) with the St. Petersburg State Symphony. She has recorded the solo sonatas by Kodaly, Crumb, and Hindemith, and in 2019, her recording of premieres of cello works by Paul Reale for NAXOS was chosen as a top five critic's choice for Fanfare. Cook was named the Inaugural Penn State Laureate, and recent performances include recitals in New York, Melbourne, and the University of Cambridge, and concerto performances with the Splitski Virtuozi in Croatia, the State Symphony in Salvador, Brazil, the Volgograd Symphony in Russia, Ukrainian State Orchestra in Kiev, and the National Symphony in Cordoba, Argentina.
A graduate of Yale and the University of Illinois, Cook studied with Gabriel Magyar, Aldo Parisot, Alan Harris, and Janos Starker. She was Principal Cellist of the São Paulo Symphony under the direction of Eleazar de Carvalho, and taught at New Mexico State prior to her position as Distinguished Professor of Cello at Penn State, where she has served since 1991. She has taught master classes at the Paris Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Conservatories in Beijing and Shanghai, the Rubin Academy in Israel, and the Melbourne Conservatory among others. At Penn State, Ms. Cook’s cello studio has attracted talented cellists from Europe, Asia, South America and the United States, and her former students currently occupy positions in orchestras and music schools in the United States, Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Croatia, and Taiwan. She lives in State College with her husband Peter Heaney, Professor of Geosciences.
Contact: [email protected]
A graduate of Yale and the University of Illinois, Cook studied with Gabriel Magyar, Aldo Parisot, Alan Harris, and Janos Starker. She was Principal Cellist of the São Paulo Symphony under the direction of Eleazar de Carvalho, and taught at New Mexico State prior to her position as Distinguished Professor of Cello at Penn State, where she has served since 1991. She has taught master classes at the Paris Conservatory, Eastman School of Music, Conservatories in Beijing and Shanghai, the Rubin Academy in Israel, and the Melbourne Conservatory among others. At Penn State, Ms. Cook’s cello studio has attracted talented cellists from Europe, Asia, South America and the United States, and her former students currently occupy positions in orchestras and music schools in the United States, Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Croatia, and Taiwan. She lives in State College with her husband Peter Heaney, Professor of Geosciences.
Contact: [email protected]