Biography
Italo-Australian soprano, Michelle Francis Cook studied at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) Australia, where she received her degree in opera and won the award for Best Voice. She continued operatic studies at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Formazione, Italy, Campus Opera, Gran Canaria, where she studied with professors of notable prestige like Erik Halfvarson, Cristina Gallardo-Domas, Margaret Baker Genovesi, Paolo Washington, Francesca Roig Clot and Deborah Polaski.
Shortly after graduation, Michelle Marie performed the roles of Mimi, Giorgetta (Il Tabarro), and Anne Trulove in the Melbourne City Opera and Opera Australia (OzOpera). She has won several awards, including the Acclaim Award, which included singing the role of Madama Cortese, Il Viaggio a Reims, Rossini, for the Florence Opera, Italy. Michelle Marie performed Le Donne di Giacomo Puccini, Australia, and roles in the Puccini Festival, in Torre del Lago, Italy.
Michelle has recorded a CD with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Czech Republic, and has sung at the Opera de Oviedo 'Alredador of' concert of Massenet and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Mozart. Since 2007 Michelle has sung roles in the Gran Teatre del Liceu: 4th Magd and Schleppträgerin of Elektra, Strauss, and later the returned with Pepa Tiefland and Prilepa in Pikovaya Dama, roles in Die Walküre with Placido Domingo, Der Rosenkavalier, Les Mamelles de Tiresias, and recently a Flower Maiden in Parsifal, Wagner. Her recent accomplishments include the role of Carmen for AOIST production in Catalunya Nov 2016 and Tosca for the Opera2001 Production which toured Spain and France in 2017 receiving rave reviews.
Her current roles include Mimi, Giorgetta, Donna Elvira, Carmen, Leonora (Il Trovatore), Tosca and Santuzza among others.