The Philadelphia-born soprano Deborah Cook has died.
Cook made her debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company at the Academy of Music in 1965. Her international debut followed in 1971. She appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for the first time in 1976. Thereafter, her career was focused primarily in Germany, which became her base of operations, though she continued to tour Europe and the United States.
With her marriage in 1985, she returned to the U.S. and took the position of executive secretary for the head of oncology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She must have had a total lack of ego to just walk away like that (she would have been about 46 years-old), though she did keep an oar in as a teacher of voice at Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, and Westtown School.
Cook received particular acclaim for her revival of Meyerbeer’s “Dinorah,” which she recorded, and appeared on Solti’s recording of “Ariadne auf Naxos,” with Leontyne Price, in the supporting role of Naiad. Deborah Cook is not to be confused with Barbara Cook, the musical theater singer, who died in 2017. She was 80 years-old.
A more complete obituary here:
https://www.penbaypilot.com/article/deborah-cook-marlowe-obituary/117224
Deborah Cook as “Dinorah:”