Jonathan Cooke
Tenor
Jonathan Cooke’s Nemorino is a delight, endearing and comically vulnerable, his performance of Una furtiva lagrima reinterpreted not as a swoon for Adina, but a soulful hymn to his beloved buses. It’s an audacious and funny twist that works because of Cooke’s sincerity and vocal finesse.
Baseless Fabric Theatre - Elixir of Love 2025
...you have heard nothing until you experience the most famous aria from the opera “Una Furtiva Lagrima” sung, not in praise of Adina, the girl he supposedly loves, but in praise of buses! Jonathan Cooke is most amusing in his role of joint bus and Adina lover, being very stylish both in his singing and acting and ensuring... ...that we hear every word.
Baseless Fabric Theatre - Elixir of Love 2025
John Groves - LondonTheatre1
Jonathan Cooke’s geeky Nemorino with his anorak and backpack is instantly sympathetic. He’s hopelessly in love with Adina. But in Joanna Turner’s glorious version, he also has a passion for London buses. ‘Bus stops are my happy place,’ he sings as he gazes in awe at a digital arrivals board.
Baseless Fabric Theatre - Elixir of Love 2025
Tenor Jonathan Cooke’s acting agility and versatile voice work well as Bamford, and when he later gets around the “ol’joanner” with Mrs Lovett, in Parlour Songs, the Beadle seems almost human
West Green House Opera - Sweeney Todd 2023
Mark Aspen - Mark Aspen | Expressing the art of the theatre critic
Jonathan Cooke as her Don Jose manages the problem of reining in a powerful tenor voice in this restricted space – the way he floated the top notes at the end of the flower song was an object lesson in how to sing opera in small spaces. He also managed to catch that strange combination of weakness and hidden violence in Don Jose that makes him such a dangerous character.
Baseless Fabric Theatre - Carmen 2022
Owen Davies - Playstosee.com
...Cooke’s tenor is as equally impressive. His voice, trumpety in all the right places, guides us through the emotion even when his pain can be seen as deserved comeuppance
Baseless Fabric Theatre - Carmen 2022
Tacita Quinn - London Unattached
Jonathan Cooke's sharply observed Melot was a paradigm of self-righteous nastiness...
London Opera Company - Tristan & Isolde 2020
Katie Barnes - Wagner News
...Britten Saint Nicolas, with Jonathan Cooke the eponymous saint. His heroic and forceful tones, so different from Peter Pears for whom it was written, gave the whole a cutting edge and urgency, which was impressive and seemed to galvanise all the other singers.
Hastings Philharmonic - St. Nicolas 2019
Brian Hick - Hastings Observer
Another young tenor with a promising future, Jonathan Cooke was Scarpia’s henchman Spoletta, and made his mark.
Everybody Can! Opera - Tosca 2019
Tamara Cooper - seenandheard-international.com
...throughout the company – in Jonathan Cooke’s honey-toned Monsieur Triquet... ...– there was evidence of Studer and Lyness’s skill at casting, and at building an ensemble.
Mid Wales Opera - Eugene Onegin 2018
Richard Bratby - criticscircle.org.uk
Jonathan Cooke's personable Cavaradossi worked genuine Puccini ardour and lyricism into his two arias.
Carmina Priapea - Tosca 2017
Peter Reed - Opera Magazine
It was good to hear Jonathan Cooke's ardent tenor managing such a smooth transition from heavenly to earthly as Angelo.
Music in the Minster - Miracle! 2015
Martin Dreyer - Opera Magazine
If it was a gamble to cast student Jonathan Cooke as Tamino, it was justified by his ardent lyricism and relationship with Pamina
Young Opera Venture - Magic Flute - 2014
Yorkshire Post
Jonathan Cooke sported a strong tenor as Tamino
Young Opera Venture - Magic Flute - 2014
Martin Dreyer - Opera Magazine
Cooke – a veteran already of the St. Endellion Festival, a sure-fire guarantee of quality – brought Tamino a kind of Prince William-like noble spirit, which suggested he was ready made not just to join Sarastro but to replace him.
Young Opera Venture - Magic Flute - 2014
Roderic Dunnet - Seenandheard-international.com
The young solo quartet was terrific, piercing the church's acoustical fog and including a boyish tenor, Jonathan Cooke, who confidently surmounted the orchestral tone in his martial, Fidelio-like solo.
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh - Beethoven Symphony No. 9 - 2008
Conrad Wilson - Herald Scotland