Phyllis Cooke | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Phyllis Cooke

Phyllis (Angela) Cooke (m Thomson). Soprano, b Winnipeg 14 May 1934. She studied voice in Winnipeg with Doris Mills Lewis and won top honours (Tudor Bowl 1952, Rose Bowl 1956) in the Manitoba Music Competition Festival. Later studies were with Lucien Needham and Victor Martens.

Cooke, Phyllis

Phyllis (Angela) Cooke (m Thomson). Soprano, b Winnipeg 14 May 1934. She studied voice in Winnipeg with Doris Mills Lewis and won top honours (Tudor Bowl 1952, Rose Bowl 1956) in the Manitoba Music Competition Festival. Later studies were with Lucien Needham and Victor Martens. She was a member of the CBC Choristers and a soloist with Berythe Birse's Oriana Singers. She has been soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic. She was a member 1964-9 of the Manitoba University Consort. She has adjudicated across Canada. Her clear soprano is particularly suited to early music, oratorio, and the song repertoire. She was assistant professor 1978-81 in the faculties of Education and Human Ecology at the University of Manitoba and became a high-school music department head in 1981.

See also Richard Cooke (her father) and Audrey Cooke Belyea (her sister).