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The American lyric mezzo-soprano, Rhianna Leigh Cockrell, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree Voice Performance from George Mason University (2016); her Master of Music in Voice from University of Minnesota (2016-2018); and her Master of Musical Arts in Early Music Voice Performance from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music (2019-2021), where she performed as the alto soloist in works by Georg Philipp Telemann and Heinrich Schütz with Masaaki Suzuki and the Yale Schola Cantorum and in George Frideric Handel's Messiah with the Yale Glee Club. She won the Colorado Bach Ensemble’s 2020 Young Artist Competition and an encouragement award in the 2021 Audrey Rooney Bach Competition.
Rhianna Cockrell has captivated audiences with her interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque works as well as her passion for contemporary works. Most recently, she was hired back to join Yale Schola Cantorum in their Germany tour as the soloist in Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning. Her 2022-2023 season sees her as the alto soloist in J.S. Bach's Cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (BWV 80) with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City, G.F. Handel's with South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) with Kentucky Bach Choir, as well as J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (BWV 232) with Cantata Collective. She was recently chosen to perform airs de cour in a master-class with Dame Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg, hosted by Gotham Early Music Scene.
As a champion of contemporary music, Rhianna Cockrell appeared in Nasty Women Connecticut’s 2021 online art exhibition Silent Fire in a performance of Joel Thompson’s After, as well as in Prototype Opera’s 2021 virtual festival in Thompson’s Clairvoyance. She also recently premiered Amelia Brey’s the night i died again, which she commissioned for her degree recital at Yale. She has previously appeared as a soloist with St. Peter’s Bach Collegium, The Thirteen, and Oregon Bach Festival. She has also performed with True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Apollo's Fire (Director: Jeannette Sorrell), Oregon Bach Festival Choir, The New Consort, and Musica Sacra.
In addition to performance, Rhianna Cockrell an active advocate for social justice and diverse representation in classical music. Along with two of her colleagues, Gloria Yin and Joe Lerangis, she co-founded New Muses Project in 2021 and now works as their Administrative Director. New Muses Project is a collective that aims to encourage justice-focused radical curiosity in classical music, and will do so through providing a streamlined database that is free and open to the public, frequent performances, transcription projects, and more. She is also Operations Manager of The Sebastians (since August 2022); and Alto at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church (since September 2022). |
