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Biographies
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VICTOR TRENT COOK
Victor Trent Cook, a native New Yorker and
Brooklyn-born, began singing at the age of three in his home church, The
House of David. After discovering his unique talent, he began his musical
training at the Brooklyn Boys Chorus School under the direction of James
McCarthy and continued his study at The High School of Music and Arts. Mr.
Cook’s Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include The Haggadah,
Romance in Hard Times, Don’t Get God Started, Street Corner Symphony and
Starmites. He is most notably known for his 1995 Tony
Award-nomination in Smokey Joe’s Café. He has toured throughout
Japan with Harlem Symphony and Europe with Body and Soul, and
more recently appeared in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella
starring Eartha Kit. Mr. Cook’s television credits include |
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All My Children, Ryan’s Hope, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd as well as
various commercials. Mr. Cook’s film credits include Hanging with the
Homeboys and Starlight. As a soloist, Mr. Cook has appeared at
The White House, John F. Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall and Boston
Symphony Hall with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Leonard Bernstein and
Seiji Ozawa. He was also the 1988 $100,000 male vocalist Star Search
winner. He feels honored to share the stage with Rod and Thomas. God bless
you all.
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RODRICK DIXON
Rodrick Dixon,
“voice has a quality like polished steel under tension-
flexible and ringingly resonant.” (Chicago Tribune).
He has appeared on stage and in concert in a
variety of dramatic roles that encompass the worlds of Opera, Oratorio,
Concert, Music Theater and Television. Rodrick Dixon’s television credits
include PBS specials Cook Dixon & Young Volume One, the Washington Opera
Gala at Constitution Hall, The Mark Twain Awards honoring Whoopi Goldberg at
The Kennedy Center, My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs at City Center,
Three Mo’ Tenors at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York,
The
Jerry Lewis Telethon (2002-2003), Marshall Fields’ Christmas
commercials, A Christmas Glory on FOX channel 9 |
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and TVOne’s “Tis The Season”
Holiday special. He appeared on the Tony Awards as a part of the hit
Broadway musical Ragtime, as well as NBC’s Today Show, Good Morning America,
The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Chicago Tonight and the Tavis Smiley Show.
Rodrick Dixon made his LA OPERA debut as Walther von der
Vogelweide in Wagner’s TANNHÄUSER. He also joined the LA Opera Orchestra as
soloist in two special concerts featuring the music of composers Korngold's
Die Tote Stadt and Schuloff's Die Flammen which is part of the LA OPERA’S
Recovered Voices Project, dedicated to performing music of composers
affected by the Holocaust.
Mr. Dixon has appeared at Cincinnati
May Festival (The Bells, Carmina Burana under Maestro James Conlon) He
appeared in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Rossini Gala (Ravinia
Festival), Millennium Park Opening with Chicago Symphony, Atlanta Symphony,
Los Angeles Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dayton Symphony, Denver Symphony,
West Virginia Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Rackham Symphony Chorus (Handel’s
Messiah) and Vail Music Festival (Beethoven 9th under Marin Alsop).
He made his Michigan Opera Theater and TODI music festival
debut as Tonio in LA FILLE DU REGIMENT, Hoffman in Portland Opera’s TALES OF
HOFFMAN, Prince in Columbus Opera’s world premiere of VANQUI, Sportin’ Life
in Virginia Opera’s PORGY AND BESS, one of the four lovers in Lyric Opera of
Chicago’s DON QUICHOTE, the Judge in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s IL TROVATORE,
Prince in the world premiere of Lyric Opera Center for American Artists’ THE
SONG OF MAJNUN, Don Ottavio and Zuniga in the Lyric Center productions of
DON GIOVANNI and LA TRAGEDIE DE CARMEN.
Mr. Dixon earned rave reviews for his Dame Myra Hess
Memorial Concert broadcast honoring Roland Hayes on WFMT-FM Chicago. He was
tenor soloist for the Do-it- yourself-Messiah at Orchestra Hall and Lyric
Opera of Chicago and completed a national Community Concerts recital tour
with his wife, soprano Alfreda Burke in 2001. Music Theater credits include
Ragtime on Broadway; Showboat at the Auditorium Theater, Chicago Pops
concerts at Grant Park Music Festival, the Chicago Pops Orchestra at the
Rosemont Theater and Cincinnati Pops with Erich Kunzel.
His CD and DVD recordings include the PBS Great
Performances Cook Dixon & Young Volume One (2005), Follow That Star
Christmas CD by Bishop T.D. Jakes and PBS Three Mo’Tenors CD and DVD.
In 2007 he is returning to the May
Festival (Rossini Stabat Mater under the baton of James Conlon), TODI Music
Festival as Lenski (EUGENE ONEGIN); Christmas concerts of “Too Hot To
Handel” at Detroit Opera House and Auditorium Theatre under the baton of
Suzanne Acton as well as tour and perform with The Tenors…Cook, Dixon &
Young.
In August 2007 Mr. Dixon will make
his film debut in a leading role of a 30-minute short film entitled, ”Mio
Sogno” (My Dream), directed by Philadelphia filmmaker, Frantz T. Excellent
and co-produced by Brian R. Chacon.
This empowering story tells of a fictitious
first African-descent dramatic-tenor to sing the role of Giuseppe Verdi's
powerful opera, ”Otello” at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera.
In 2008 Mr. Dixon returns to the LA OPERA stage
to star as Der Zwerg in the LA OPERA’s production of Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg.
Visit
www.tenorroddixon.com .
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THOMAS YOUNG
Grammy-award
winning lyric tenor Thomas Young has appeared as a principal soloist in the
major concert halls and opera houses of some 20 countries, and under the
baton of, among others, Zubin Mehta, Roger Norrington, Simon Rattle, and
Esa-Pekka Salonen. In addition to his distinguished performance career, Mr.
Young serves as a tenured Professor of Music at Sarah Lawrence College.
Known for his
unique dramatic and musical intelligence, as well as beauty of tone and
exceptional technique, Mr. Young is recognized as today’s foremost
interpreter of tenor roles in contemporary
opera. Mr. Young made his Chicago Lyric Opera debut in the world premiere of
Anthony Davis’
Amistad
as the Trickster
God, a role written for him by Mr. Davis. |
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Mr. Young made
his New York City Opera debut singing the dual roles of Street and Elijah
Muhammad in his first collaboration with Davis for the world
premiere of
X:
The Life and Times of Malcolm X.
After this
“brilliantly chameleonic performance” (Donal Henahan – The New York Times),
New York City Opera invited him back to sing Aron in Schoenberg’s
Moses
und Aron
and then
Desportes in Zimmermann’s
Die
Soldaten.
Anthony
Davis went on to compose another role for Mr. Young in the science-fiction
opera
Under
the Double Moon,
which premiered at the
Opera
Theatre of St. Louis.
Marking his
San Francisco Opera debut in John Adams’
The
Death of Klinghoffer,
Mr. Young
created the role of Molqi and the role of Jonathan Rumor for the world
premiere at the Opera de la Monnale in Brussels. Under the direction of
Peter Sellars and baton of Kent Nagano, performances followed at the Opera
de Lyon, Vienna Festival, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Called on 48 hours
notice, Mr. Young made his Covent Garden debut as the rebel Schwalb in
Hindemith’s
Mathis der Mahler,
again under
the
direction of
Peter Sellars with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting.
Mr. Young
sang Polo in Tan Dun’s
Marco
Polo
at the Hong
Kong Festival, a role which he created for the Biennale Festival in Munich.
Performances followed in Glasgow, London, Amsterdam, Torino and Tokyo. Mr.
Young’s work at the Netherlands Opera includes Stravinsky’s
Biblical Pieces
under the
direction of Peter Sellars with Reinbert de Leeuw conducting, Birtwistle’s
Punch
and Judy,
Schoenberg’s
Von
Heute auf Morgan
directed by
Pierre Audi and conducted by Oliver Knussen, and Shostakovich’s
Lady
Macbeth of Mtensk
directed by
David Poutney. Other roles include Stravinsky’s
Oedipus Rex
in the title
role, Gounod’s
Faust
in the title role, the U.S. premiere of Rossini’s
Armida
in the role
of Rinaldo at Tulsa Opera, Handel’s
Imeneo
at New York
City’s Town Hall and Gershwin’s
Porgy
and Bess
in the role
of Sportin’ Life at Houston Grand Opera.
Mr. Young
was called on 48 hours notice to sing Aron in Schoenberg’s
Moses
und Aron
at the
Maggio Musicale Florentino Festival in Florence. Under the baton of Zubin
Mehta, Mr. Young’s singing was “… just short of miraculous” (Corriere della
Sera).
Mr. Young’s
North American concert appearances include performances in Blitzstein’s
Airborne Symphony
and
Schmidt’s
The
Book of Seven Seals
with the
American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall; Beethoven’s
Ninth
Symphony
with the
Brooklyn Philharmonic conducted by Dennis Russell Davies at Brooklyn Academy
of Music and Avery Fisher Hall; Mozart’s
Great
Mass in C
conducted by
Lukas Foss at Brooklyn Academy of Music;
Too
Hot to Handel,
and Duke Ellington’s
Sacred Songs
with
Concordia Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop at Alice Tully Hall; J.S.
Bach’s
Mass
in B Minor
and
Beethoven’s
Missa
Solemnis
with the
Long Island Philharmonic conducted by Christopher Keene; Mahler’s
Das
Lied von der Erde
with St.
Lukes Chamber Orchestra, Philippe Herreweghe conducting; Mozart’s
Messiah
with the St.
Louis Symphony conducted by Andrew Parrott; Elliot Carter’s
In
Sleep In Thunder
with the Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Oliver Knussen conducting.
Mr. Young’s
national tours include
Jesus
Christ Superstar
in the role
of Judas and
The
Wiz
as The Wiz.
Regional musical theatre appearances include
Pippin
as the
Leading Player,
Evita
as Che, and
Sweet
Charity
as Daddy
Brubeck.
Recent
engagements include touring, recording and performing as part of the well
known ensemble Three Mo’ Tenors and now as Cook Dixon & Young; Michael
Tipett’s
A
Child of our Time
under the
direction of Sir Roger Norrington and Poulenc’s
Les
Mamelles de Tiresias
in concert
version conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, both with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic; Kurt Weill’s
Street Scene
in the role
of Sam Kaplan with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Lawrence Foster
conducting; Stravinsky’s
The
Flood
at Carnegie
Hall with the London Sinfonietta under the direction of Oliver Knussen;
Bernstein’s
Mass
as the Celebrant with the Cincinnati Orchestra, James Conlon conducting;
Verdi’s
Requiem
with the
Colorado Symphony, Marin Alsop conducting; and a staged production of Tan
Dun’s
Marco
Polo
in the role
of Polo at the Zagreb Bennale in Croatia.
Mr. Young’s
recordings include the Grammy-nominated
X:
The Life and Times of Malcolm X,
on
Gramavison; John Adams’ Grammy-nominated
The
Death of Klinghoffer
on
Elektra/Nonesuch; Tan Dun’s
Marco
Polo
on SONY,
named Opera of the Year by Opera Magazine; and George Gershwin’s
Blue
Monday
on Telarc.
Most recently he can be heard on the multi-Grammy award winning recording of
William Bolcom's
Songs
of Innocence and Experience,
Leonard
Slatkin conducting, and
Too
Hot to Handel,
Marin Alsop
conducting, both on Naxos.
Mr. Young’s
own recordings include
High
Standards
and
Claire de Lune, Sister Moon
on ESSAY
Records; and
A
Star in the East, A Spiritual Christmas
on Ocean
Records. Mr. Young is the singing voice of Mighty Mouse on Ralph Bakshi’s
animated series. Visit
www.thomasyoungtenor.com
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