Alice Coote OBE (born 10 May 1968) is a British

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

. Known internationally for her performances in opera playing both female and male roles, and her recitals with piano and concerts with orchestra, Coote has performed extensively across Europe, North America and Asia. Her repertoire ranges from early and baroque music to contemporary works, and includes works which have been especially written for her. She was appointed OBE in the 2018 Birthday honours for services to music.

Life

Coote was born in Frodsham,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, the daughter of the painter Mark Coote. She was educated at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

in London (though she did not complete her course), the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (where she came into contact with Janet Baker and

Brigitte Fassbaender Brigitte Fassbaender (; born 3 July 1939), is a German mezzo-soprano opera singer and a stage director. From 1999 to 2012 she was Theater manager, intendant (managing director) of the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, Austria. She holds the ti ...

) and the National Opera Studio during 1995/96. Coote was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist from 2001 until 2003. She sings both operatic roles, particularly trouser roles, and recital repertoire, often with pianist Julius Drake. An interpreter of Handel she has also performed contemporary pieces such as Dominick Argento's ''From the Diary of Virginia Woolf'', a partly atonal work first performed by Janet Baker, who influenced Coote. Judith Weir has written a song cycle, ''The Voice of Desire'', especially for her; it was premiered at a BBC Chamber Prom. Coote has performed at England's Opera North, the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

, the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in New York (Hansel in Humperdinck's ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

''), the San Francisco Opera in 2002 (Ruggiero in Handel's ''

Alcina ''Alcina'' (Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis, HWV 34) is a 1735 opera by George Frideric Handel. Handel used the libretto of ''L'isola di Alcina'', a work set to music in 1728 in Rome by Riccardo Broschi, which he had acquired a year later during his t ...

'') and 2008 (Idamante in Mozart's '' Idomeneo''). In 2009, she appeared as Maffio Orsini in Donizetti's ''

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto. Her family arranged ...

'' at the Bavarian State Opera. She also performed in 2011 as Prince Charming in Massenet's '' Cendrillon'' at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

. In 2013, she played Sextus in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Handel's ''

Giulio Cesare ''Giulio Cesare in Egitto'' (; ; HWV 17), commonly known as , is a dramma per musica (''opera seria'') in three acts composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1724. The libretto was written by Nicola Francesco Haym ...

''. In March 2017 she reprised the role of Idamante in six performances at the Metropolitan Opera.

Recordings

* 2002: '' The Choice of Hercules'' (Handel) – Susan Gritton, Alice Coote, Robin Blaze; The King's Consort – Robert King; Hyperion CDA67298 * 2003: ''Lieder'' – (Mahler, Haydn, Schumann) – Alice Coote, Julius Drake (piano); EMI Classics 7243 5 85559 2 9 * 2010: Symphony No. 2 ''Resurrection'' (Mahler) – Alice Coote, Natalie Dessay; Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Orfeón Donostiarra –

Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi (; born 30 December 1962) is an Estonian conductor. He has been chief conductor of Zurich's Tonhalle since 2020. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia (then occupied by the Soviet Union), to Liilia Järvi and the Estoni ...

; Virgin Classics 50999 694586 0 6 * 2013: '' Das Lied von der Erde'' (Mahler) – Alice Coote, Burkhard Fritz (tenor); Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra –

Marc Albrecht Marc Albrecht (born 1964) is a German conductor resident in The Netherlands. He was chief conductor of the Dutch National Opera, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009 to 2020. Biography Born in ...

; Pentatone PTC 5186502 * 2014: ''Handel Arias'' – Alice Coote; The English Concert – Harry Bicket; Hyperion * 2014: '' Die Winterreise'' (Schubert) – Alice Coote, Julius Drake (piano); Harmonia Mundi * 2015: ''L'heure exquise – A French Songbook'' ( Poulenc, Hahn,

Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

, Chausson) – Alice Coote, Graham Johnson (piano); Hyperion * 2016: '' Sea Pictures'' (Elgar) – Alice Coote; Hallé Orchestra – Mark Elder; Naxos * 2016: ''Schumann Lieder'' (incl. ''

Frauenliebe und -leben ''Frauen-Liebe und Leben'' (''A Woman's Love and Life'') is a cycle of poems by Adelbert von Chamisso, written in 1830. They describe the course of a woman's love for her man, from her point of view, from first meeting through marriage to his dea ...

'', '' Dichterliebe'') – Alice Coote, Christian Blackshaw (piano); Harmonia Mundi * 2017: ''Mahler Song Cycles'' (Mahler) –

, Alice Coote, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra; PENTATONE PTC 5186576 * 2022: ''21 Schubert Songs'' - Alice Coote, Julius Drake (piano); Hyperion

References

External links

*
Profile
at IMG Artists
Albums

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coote, Alice 1968 births Living people Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Alumni of the Royal Northern College of Music British performers of early music Women performers of early music English mezzo-sopranos 20th-century British women opera singers Singers from Cheshire British operatic mezzo-sopranos People from Frodsham BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists 21st-century British women opera singers Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire