College of the Arts Welcomes Dr. Dorea Cook

dorea cook

A big welcome to our newest faculty member. The Department of Music is pleased to announce Dr. Dorea Cook has accepted a position as Assistant Professor and will begin as one of our new music faculty this fall. Excited to have Dr. Cook join our faculty. Look for additional faculty news soon.

Mezzo soprano Dr. Dorea Cook is a newly appointed Assistant Professor of Music at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, GA, where she teaches applied voice. Dr. Cook has held previous appointments at Valdosta State University as a visiting assistant professor, Northeastern State University (OK), San Jacinto College (TX) and Lone Star College (TX). She has directed the NSU Musical Theater/Opera Ensemble, taught applied voice lessons, and taught Italian & French Diction, Aural Theory, Music Appreciation, and Voice for Non-Majors.

Dr. Cook is known for her clear, vibrant sound, and flexibility within diverse styles from solo operatic roles to oratorio, chamber, Baroque, and contemporary repertoire. This past academic year, Dr. Cook sang the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon with the Valdosta State University Opera. She was also an invited performer at the 2017 Music by Women Festival and the 2017 North American Saxophone Alliance (Region 6), where she performed Lori Laitman’s cycle Living in the Body with saxophonist Matthew Roehrich. In March 2017, she will also perform with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with the Valdosta State University Departments of Theatre and Dance as the Soprano II soloist in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dr. Cook has soloed with Conspirare Chamber of Voices, Conspirare Symphonic Choir and the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Chamber Choir, Texas Early Music Project, Austin Bach Cantata Project, Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago College of Performing Arts Orchestra.

In an ensemble capacity, Dr. Cook has performed with the Grammy-winning Conspirare Chamber of Voices, Conspirare Symphonic Choir, Austin Bach Cantata Project, San Antonio Chamber Choir, Texas Early Music Ensemble, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Grant Park Music Festival Chorus and the William Ferris Chorale. Dr. Cook can be heard commercially with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus on the CSO Resound label and on other recordings with the Houston Chamber Choir, San Antonio Chamber Choir, and the William Ferris Chorale.

Dr. Cook’s research centers on American Art Song of the twenty-first century. She has focused primarily on the evolution of American song from strictly classical to an increasingly diverse and genre-bending art form. She has given recitals and masterclasses at universities in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and will be giving recitals in the fall of 2017 in Georgia and North Carolina. Further performances, conference participation, and lectures are currently pending.
Dr. Cook received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of NATS and the College Music Society