Alice Coote


Alice Coote OBE is a British lyric mezzo-soprano.
Coote was born in Frodsham, Cheshire, the daughter of the painter Mark Coote. She was educated at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester 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, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the San Francisco Opera in 2002 and 2008. In 2009, she appeared as Maffio Orsini in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at the Bavarian State Opera. She also performed in 2011 as Prince Charming in Massenet's Cendrillon at the Royal Opera House. In 2013, she played Sextus in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Handel's Giulio Cesare. In March 2017 she reprised the role of Idamante in six performances at the Metropolitan Opera.

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